Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics... (Say What Prakash?)

Tonight during the St. Augustine leg of the Debate series in the lead up to the election of the next Political Leader of the Congress of the People, candidate Prakash Ramadhar pulled at a thread that may inadvertently unravel the whole thing by this time tomorrow.

In response to a direct question from candidate Vernon De Lima as to if he (Prakash) would run if Winston Dookeran himself was in the race, Prakash exuberantly and emphatically responded that the question did not arise as Mr. Dookeran himself told him to run, causing a gasp to be heard around the room and around the country to those who understood the implications of that statement.

Make no mistake, the words spoken were very clear and amounted to a claim of nothing less than an outright endorsement of Prakash Ramadhar by Winston Dookeran, which upon utterance either makes a liar of Winston Dookeran and nullifies both Vernon De Lima  and Nalini Dial's candidacy or, if proven untrue, exposes Prakash Ramadhar as a liar at the highest level and leaves him no recourse short of a disgraceful exit from the race.

There is no other avenue open to him as his words challenges the recorded statement and position of the Party's outgoing leader that he would not nor could he endorse ANY candidate and would leave it up to the membership to decide. This is very serious business and the members and the country as a whole must be waiting at the proverbial edge of their seats for Mr. Dookeran's response to Prakash's outlandish claim.

If Mr. Dookeran agrees with him (Ramadhar) then, despite making HIMSELF a liar, also unravels the De Lima and possibly the Dial campaigns as both candidates have publicly stated on the record time and again that the ONLY reason that they were in the race was because Winston wasn't and that he did not have any dog in the fight. Regardless of the outcome someone is going to lose big here and one wonders if Prakash was aware that he was going all in on a sucker bet.

I refuse to believe that Vernon De Lima, consummate Attorney and notorious cross examiner that he is did not know the answer to the question that he posed to his brash adversary, and like many who have been lulled into a false sense of security trying to match wits with the experienced warhorse before, Prakash tripped and fell into his own bravado.

Now all that remains is for the other shoe to fall, for Mr. Dookeran to weigh in on the topic and for the chips to fall where they may. No matter what happens next it would be near impossible to assume that the campaign can continue on with business as usual, and I for one wait with baited breath to see where this goes from here.


Stay very tuned....