FORMER UNC Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally says the PNM offers the best choice for good governance to TT out of all the political parties contesting the April 28 general election.
He made the comment on April 25, one day after appearing at a PNM public meeting in Sangre Grande on April 24.
In a WhatsApp message, Rambally said, "I attended because my conscience dictated that I support good governance."
He added, "I don’t see the UNC as providing that but I do see the PNM showing that it has a good model and can take the country forward."
Rambally dismissed former UNC senator Anil Roberts' description of him as a "Judas" at a meeting in Barrackpore on April 24 as unworthy of a response.
"In any event, my approach of engaging in politics really never aligned with the UNC hierarchy."
Rambally said, "At the end of the day, all citizens enjoy a right to freedom of conscience, movement and to express political views.
"Anyone or entity that is interested in upholding the Constitution won’t attack persons whenever they choose to exercise and enjoy these rights."
Former UNC Naparima MP Rodney Charles and former Tabaquite MP Anita Haynes-Alleyne were not surprised by Rambally's presence at the PNM meeting.
Haynes-Alleyne said, "Dinesh remains a man of integrity, and I believe he will continue to act in the best interest of TT."
She added, "After a persistent narrative of purging the UNC and calling members and former members PNM B team, this move can hardly come as a shock."
Haynes-Alleyne described the outrage by some UNC members about Rambally's appearance in Sangre Grande as "disingenuous and misplaced"
Charles said, "Let’s face it, Dinesh Rambally has been treated with utter contempt by the UNC. He was not invited to caucus meetings. He was not rostered to speak in Parliament on issues he championed."
Charles added the Santan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), of which Rambally is first general secretary, had been subject to not-too-subtle attacks by the UNC's leadership.
"He has been excluded from the present campaign. He has, for all intents and purposes, been publicly 'purged' from the party."
In a statement on April 10, SDMS general secretary Vijay Maharaj dismissed UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar's claim she purged the UNC of the SDMS' influence. He said it was the SDMS which has been distancing itself from the UNC since 2024 and Rambally's resignation from the party sealed the deal.
Prime Minister Stuart Young accepted an invitation by the SDMS to be interviewed by Rambally on Jaagriti TV on April 17.
The SDMS offered the same invitation to Persad-Bissessar on the same day. She did not accept it.
Charles said the UNC failed to acknowledge the positive qualities which Rambally brought to the party as a former industrial court judge, an attorney who argued cases before the Privy Council in London and an articulate parliamentary spokesperson on many issues.
He added Rambally was the kind of young citizen TT needed.
"With appropriate mentoring, exposure and training he can be a future leader."
Charles said in countries like the UK, "A very intelligent citizen of East Indian descent can become prime minister."
He lamented, "Here (in TT) Dinesh Rambally is seen as a threat to other aspirants and must be treated with disdain and contempt."
UNC chairman Davendranath Tancoo was unfazed by Rambally's appearance on a PNM platform.
Tancoo, who is also the UNC Fyzabad candidate, said, "I remain focussed on saving Trinidad from this economic and national depression that the PNM has buried this country in."
Rambally is one of five former UNC MPs who publicly questioned UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar's ability to lead the party to victory in the April 28 general election.
The others are Charles, Haynes-Alleyne, Rushton Paray and Dr Rai Ragbir.
Rambally and Ragbir withdrew from the UNC's nomination process questioning its integrity.
They both later resigned from the party.
Paray and Haynes-Alleyne were screened but not chosen as candidates.
They are still UNC members.
In a statement, former UNC government minister Devant Maharaj said Rambally's appearance in Sangre Grande was a "political vivisection that exposes the gangrenous core of the UNC."
He claimed it provided further evidence of the party's ongoing decay under Persad-Bissessar’s tyrannical leadership.
Maharaj said claims by UNC members that Rambally was a traitor to the party were wrong.
Rambally, he continued, appeared at the PNM meeting as "a refugee fleeing the wreckage of Kamla’s UNC."
Maharaj said it was "a scorching indictment of Persad-Bissessar’s catastrophic stewardship, marked by purges, firings, and a trail of broken loyalties."
He added, "This purge has gutted the UNC’s parliamentary strength, leaving it a shadow of its former self."
Maharaj said Persad-Bissessar has fulfilled UNC founder Basdeo Panday prophecy's that she has "killed the party beyond repair.”
Claims by political analysts, he continued, that the UNC's vote share for the election appear to show resilience did not mean the party would win the election.
"Kamla’s refusal to evolve, coupled with her ruthless culling of dissenters, has left the UNC a hollow shell, bleeding talent and hope."
Maharaj predicted the "coalition of interests" the UNC formed with the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP), Laventille Outreach for Vertical Enrichment(LOVE), Congress of the People (COP) and some trade unions would not be her redemption arc on April 28.
Maharaj added, "Kamla’s coalition is a fantasy when she can’t even keep her own MPs from seeking refuge elsewhere."
Rambally, Ragbir, attorney Larry Lalla, SC, former UNC La Brea constituency chairman Victor Roberts, former temporary senator Jowelle De Souza and the entire UNC Diego Martin North/East constituency executive are some of the people who resigned from the party before the election.
