Moonilal: Bharath almost made me cry

AS the United National Congress (UNC) election campaign heats up, big guns in support of the incumbent leader are aiming at the challenger, loaded with ammunition to destroy his credibility as a contender.

From a virtual platform on Monday night, Princes Town MP Barry Padarath warned the membership to be careful of “wolves in sheep’s clothing. They will come to you very nicely with bow tie and sweet talk, but not prepared to do the work that would put us in government.”

Declaring support for Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Padarath asked her challenger, Vasant Bharath, to say what he did to put the UNC in opposition.

In spite of Bharath’s denials, Padarath recalled he was in his constituency office during the last election when someone called to say Bharath was campaigning with Winston “Gypsy” Peters, a former colleague turned candidate for the People’s National Movement in the August general election.

Without giving details he said the party had to "remove" Bharath, a former UNC MP, twice, from Chaguanas West and from St Joseph, because of his behaviour.

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal who also endorsed Persad-Bissessar – against whom he fought and lost in the last internal elections – recalled how Bharath, his Cabinet colleague at the time, almost made him cry.

He said he was in England on vacation and when he returned, faced daily protests because the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), during his tenure as Housing Minister, had bulldozed farmers' lands to make way for housing.

He said that was par for the course, but what was most painful was “when a Cabinet colleague of mine went with the protesters to protest against me. The only thing I did not do was cry.”

He told voters, “When you go to vote, we must consider the issue of discipline, the issue of commitment, the issue of teamwork as we go forward.”

Chairman of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation Anil Juteram said Persad-Bissessar has stood out as the lone female political leader in spite of the men who tried to keep her down.

He recalled how in spite of her qualifications and experience, she was treated as an “OJT” by former prime minister Basdeo Panday, unceremoniously removed as the first female attorney general and placed in the Legal Affairs Ministry with, he said, just a desk and a chair outside the AG’s office.

“But no woman don’t cry.”

As he endorsed her bid for continuing leadership, Juteram said no man could have endured what she did and still deliver.

Nicholas Morris, who is contesting the post of international relations officer on Persad-Bissessar’s slate, said under her leadership, young people and women have become equal partners in national development.

“Since 2010 Kamla Persad-Bissessar has broken the glass ceiling, giving young people and opportunity to be part of the decision-making process.”

Persad-Bissessar also had a message to the “haters to get a life.”

Pelting barbs at Bharath and Devant Maharaj (another former minister, whois campaigning for her removal), without naming them, she suggested they should "get off Facebook and stop spewing so much hate and do something nice with their families.”

She promised that on December 6 there would be a free and fair election process.