Kamla: PM grasping at straws over Jindal

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the Prime Minister is grasping at straws in saying that a report highlighting Indian industrialist Naveen Jindal in a prominent booklet at the Commonwealth heads meeting in Samoa is an endorsement of the businessman.

She was responding on October 27 to questions from Newsday about a Facebook post by Dr Rowley on October 25, where the PM said the UNC were “louts” and “miscreants” for “slandering and excoriating” the businessman, who was allegedly weighing a bid for the mothballed oil refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre.

Rowley said, "The last thing these miscreants want is for that refinery to be up and running! They don’t want that to happen! They want to have it there in its current state so that they could try to score political points by attacking the PNM by frequently mentioning its existence even when it doesn’t make sense."

In the Senate budget debate on October 21, opposition senator Wade Mark had criticised Jindal in alleging he was linked to one of the three bidders being considered to buy the refinery. The UNC had previously raised concerns about corruption charges being faced by Jindal in India.

Persad-Bissessar said, “That photo means nothing and Rowley is just grasping at straws. It's no endorsement of Jindal at all.

“He must understand he is in Samoa to represent Trinidad and Tobago, not Jindal! Maybe in his paranoia he forgot that he is the one who shut down the Petrotrin refinery. He is the only one to be blamed for the refinery being turned into a scrap heap.”

She said Rowley’s Facebook “meltdown was nothing new to the country.

“He has always been prone to public childish crying fits when his feelings overwhelm his capacity to self-regulate. Just recently he was crying to defend his $50 million 2025 budget allocation for feteing and free rum at the OPM.”

On October 7, the opposition leader raised questions regarding a $400 million allocation to the OPM for construction.

On October 17, the Finance Minister said he had instructed the central audit division to audit the expenditure at the OPM in terms of entertainment and other expenses such as maintenance of the Diplomatic Centre and so on for the period 2010-2015 (Persad-Bissessar) and the period 2015-2024 (Rowley).

Persad-Bissessar said Rowley is desperate to distract from the mess the country and the PNM are in.

“He has lost control of the country and the PNM. He is terrified to call elections within his own party, and therefore we can conclude that he is also terrified to call national elections. His mind is consumed with paranoia due to his fears of the outcome of the raging internal war within the PNM and he is unable to cope.

“Whenever he cannot regain control of his emotions he lashes out at everyone. It seems he believes everyone is now out to get him within the PNM and outside, he seems to be switching between reality and delusion at times. The Prime Minister's advisors must step in and stop him from issuing these crazy rants and immature Facebook posts.”

(with reporting by Sean Douglas)