Bharath: Set aside loyalty – vote out Kamla

FORMER minister Vasant Bharath called on traditional UNC supporters to set aside their party loyalty and remove incumbent leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar on December 6, to give the UNC a real chance of returning to government in 2025.

Bharath issued his call during a virtual meeting in Ramai Trace, Debe.

He also claimed that Persad-Bissessar has no intention of handing the UNC's leadership over to Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal in 2023 and has selected people who can never lead the UNC back into government.

Bharath declared that "in their heart of hearts" the UNC's base supporters know Persad-Bissessar must be removed as party leader. But he said, "They are torn because our culture –and I say our culture, you know what I mean – our culture, the Indian culture, is one of loyalty. It is one of loyalty, and we are torn when we had to move away, as we did in 2009, when we had to leave the founding father (Basdeo Panday) behind to be able to move this party forward."

Persad-Bissessar replaced Panday as UNC leader when she defeated him in the UNC's internal elections on January 24, 2010. She was elected prime minister when the UNC led- PP coalition won the general election four months later.

The UNC, Bharath continued, is in the same situation now and must remove Persad-Bissessar as leader.

He warned, "If we don't do that now, and make that hard decision, our children will hold us responsible for not making that decision on their behalf." Bharath added, "We may never have another chance."

He disagreed with people who cling to the hope that Persad-Bissessar could still defeat the PNM at the polls. Making reference to Persad-Bissessar's electoral defeats since 2010, Bharath said there is no such thing as "12th time lucky."

After saying Moonilal "will be given the crown" when Persad-Bissessar resigns in 2023, Bharath declared, "That and a green pig flying, he will never see. He's holding on to promises made by a leader who is not known to keep her promises and he should know better."

Bharath claimed Persad-Bissessar has already lined up potential successors who lack national appeal to the electorate. He predicted, "Any of those people who are anointed by the political leader will have all of us in opposition for the next 25 years."

Bharath described Persad-Bissessar's claim that he caused the UNC to lose the August 10 general election as laughable.

"You blame one man for making a party lose?"

He asked Persad-Bissessar who was responsible for the UNC's successive losses in 2013 to the PNM in the Tobago House of Assembly elections, Chaguanas West and St Joseph by-elections and the local government elections.

Describing the Prime Minister as a fantastic politician, Bharath said. "What he has done is he has created a pipeline down the road of leadership for the PNM."

Through the selection of people such as Pennelope Beckles- Robinson, Dr Amery Browne and Brian Manning as members of his government, Bharath declared that Dr Rowley has united the PNM's base. In contrast, he declared, "What have we (UNC) done? We have done exactly the opposite."

Through all the UNC constituencies to which his Team Lotus has gone during the campaign, Bharath said, "People are just fed up of losing. They are fed up of opposition and they want to get back into government."

The December 6 election must not be seen as merely a UNC internal election, he warned.

"It is an election that will determine the future direction of this country."

With a different leadership at its helm, he predicted, the UNC will be seen by the PNM as a political threat which it cannot underestimate.