Gail Alexan­der

?PNM's Diego Mar­tin West up­com­ing no con­fi­dence mo­tion against PNM leader Patrick Man­ning shows that the tide of sen­ti­ment is con­tin­u­ing to roll against Man­ning even in his own par­ty, UNC leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar said yes­ter­day. "It may be the first time in the PNM's his­to­ry that a PNM con­stituen­cy has moved to do some­thing like this," Per­sad-Bisses­sar added. "The po­si­tion be­ing tak­en by PNM Diego Mar­tin West is a brave stance and it shows that the con­stituen­cy is in touch with the re­al­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion cur­rent­ly fac­ing T&T. "It al­so shows the mo­men­tum is mount­ing against Man­ning if a PNM con­stituen­cy has 'gone clear' with this type of ef­fort." Per­sad- Bisses­sar added: "The move by PNM Diego Mar­tin West there­fore res­onates across par­ty lines and racial and oth­er di­vides."

Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so said she had not­ed for­mer UNC leader Bas­deo Pan­day's com­mit­ment to sup­port the up­com­ing Par­lia­men­tary de­bate of a mo­tion of no con­fi­dence against Man­ning which was filed by the Op­po­si­tion UNC on Mon­day.

That would be de­bat­ed in a few weeks. Pan­day said he would speak in the de­bate and sup­port the mo­tion. Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so thanked PNM MP Pen­ne­lope Beck­les for "the kind com­ments" she said Beck­les made about her at a func­tion on Sun­day when Beck­les praised Per­sad-Bisses­sar. Per­sad- Bisses­sar added: "We at­tend­ed law school to­geth­er and she has al­ways been a per­son of in­tegri­ty and grace." UNC's week­ly ex­ec­u­tive meet­ing yes­ter­day was fi­nal­is­ing plans for its planned ral­ly on March 28. (GA)