Former Congress of the People (COP) Couva South candidate Devant Maharaj has resigned from the party, claiming that "inflammatory and divisive" statements made by party members have worked against the unification process. In a letter addressed to political leader Winston Dookeran, dated April 9, Maharaj said: "Statements made by Deputy Political Leader Ms Wendy Lee Yuen in your absence have, in my opinion, worked against the unity process." Lee Yuen had recently voiced her concerns over what she felt was a lack of concrete unification talks between the COP and the United National Congress (UNC).
But Maharaj felt her statements created an atmosphere that was not conducive to unification. He claimed her statements resulted in his key supporters and advisers lobbying for him to revisit his political association with the COP for the general elections this year. Maharaj also said he was alarmed at what he deemed "political self-righteousness and arrogance" expressed at constituency meetings in central and east Trinidad. "On each occasion I left disappointed that the party's leadership was unable to present a clearly articulated position on political unity. Like so many, I am still in the dark as to what our proposal is and what we expect or want."
He said, this too, will militate against political unity. Maharaj also said there was erosion of the COP support base as many of the supporters returned to the UNC. "Our support was based on a fundamental dissatisfaction with the retention of Basdeo Panday as political leader of the UNC and this is no longer the case," he said. Lashing out at the COP's unity document "Politics of Change," he said "the document was in my opinion a philosophical academic treatise that offered no concrete proposals that could advance the unity process. "The document failed to inspire the possibility of the hope of real political unity."
