For the first time in 33 years, no member of the Panday clan will face the electorate in a general election. The final straw came yesterday when the two remaining Pandays, Mickela, daughter of the party's founder Basdeo Panday, and her uncle Subhas were rejected as candidates for the May 24 polls. UNC political leader Kamla Persad Bissessar, after an address to nominees, announced the incumbent Oropouche East MP (Mickela) and Princes Town North MP (Subhas) were not selected. She said newcomers Stacy Roopnarine, (Oropouche East) and former Princes Town councillor Nela Khan (Princes Town North) will replace them. Persad-Bissessar who listed the UNC's slate of 23 candidates to contest the polls under a partnership agreement, denied that the rejection of the Pandays had anything to do with vindictiveness or spite. She said it had to do with putting forward the best possible candidates. "I sat on the screening committee and I was not of the view that there was any mass wipe out...The only mass wipe out we are on, is we must wipe out (Patrick) Manning and his regime," she said. "This not for fame and glory, but to be able to serve the people for the greater good to improve the quality of life for everyone, and those were the considerations of the screening committee."
Rejected but not dejected, incumbent Princes Town North MP Subhas Panday, promised: "We (Pandays) will rise again." Subhas, who had defied family in favour of party, expressed surprise at his omission, but pledged to support his party. He said: "It was a surprise to me. Nela Khan was a surprise to me. I thought it was Nizam Baksh. "If I have to be sacrificed for the greater good for the removal of the PNM, I have no problems," he added. He dismissed claims that the Panday legacy was over. He said: "We are not out, we shall rise! We shall rise!" With respect to the People's Partnership, he underscored: "They have a duty, a sacred duty to hold this together and they cannot allow it to fall apart, because the PNM and everybody trying and they expect this to fall apart.
Subhas was among Opposition MPs in the last Parliament and other candidates screened for the UNC, who were all summoned to a meeting at the Rienzi Complex, Couva, yesterday, where the slate was revealed. The revelation was greeted with a mixture of joy, sadness and disappointment, especially from the Pandays who had been the backbone of opposition politics for several decades. Their exclusion, ironically, came exactly 21 years since the UNC was established on April 30, 1990, by Basdeo Panday. The elder Panday declined to offer himself as a candidate and recanted on a decision to contest the Chaguanas West seat held by Jack Warner. Panday has successfully won the Couva North seat since 1976. He was removed as both political and Opposition Leader, after the bitterly fought January 24 UNC internal elections, by Persad-Bissessar. His successor in the election race is Ramona Ramdial. At a news conference, after a meeting of the UNC screening committee and national executive, Persad-Bissessar defended the party's choice of candidates.
She admitted that there would be hurt and disappointment, but, "I have gone forward after long deliberations by the screening committee, thereafter with the executive, these decisions were not taken lightly." She said the screening committee had decided and the decision was final. She said if they made the wrong decisions, "the people will judge us for that on May 24." Persad-Bissessar added: "When you make political decisions, you will have to face the consequences; the people will judge us for the decisions we make." She told the nominees who were not selected they had three choices–to continue to work with the party and the candidate; to work with the party; and to continue to work for the party.
Panday History
Basdeo Panday lost his deposit in the first general election he contested. Panday, just back from English training as an attorney, with courses in economics and theatre, fought Naparima South, which was won by Alloy Lequay. Contesting on behalf of Workers and Farmers' Party, Panday polled just 326 votes, 3.57 per cent of those cast. He forfeited his deposit. He made a stunning return 10 years later, this time as leader of the newly-minted United Labour Front. He whipped seven other contenders at Couva North. Panday has held that seat since then, winning successively in 1981, 1986, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2007. He was the second longest-serving Member of Parliament, after Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who was first elected to Parliament in 1971.