Chaguanas Mayor Natasha Navas has said that she would welcome a visit by Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday to the Chaguanas Borough Corporation office if he wants to meet with her today.

’I will be here in office. If it is he wishes to come across, I will make the necessary accommodation to meet with him. After all, he is the political leader of the UNC and the MP for Couva North,’ said Navas, when asked if she had any plans to meet Panday.

Panday, in fulfilling his duties as surrogate MP for Jack Warner’s Chaguanas West constituency, is expected to be at the office of deputy mayor Orlando Nagessar today from 10 a.m. to meet with people of that area.

Last week Wednesday, Navas tried to put a stop to Panday utilising the deputy mayor’s office, reading a legal letter which stated that the office should not be used for political purposes. However, this was dismissed by Nagessar and the corporation’s CEO William Mark.

Panday said he would be going into the constituency to do his job, adding, ’I am the leader of the Opposition, that is an official post created by the constitution. I am the leader of the Opposition of the entire country. My job is therefore to attend to the problems of the entire country and that is what I would be doing’.

Commenting on Navas’s move as well as her decision to appoint three PNM councillors to chair the corporation’s sub-committees, Panday said: ’I feel sorry for her. She is a tool of Jack Warner who is making an absolute fool of her. I really feel sorry for her. This is the work of Jack Warner, who has made a deal with the PNM and he has handed the Chaguanas borough over to the PNM.’

Panday said the party’s executive would deliberate on whether disciplinary action would be taken against the UNC councillors who voted former Chaguanas mayor Suruj Rambachan out of office.

Responding to Panday’s comments, Navas said, ’I cannot listen to what these politicians are saying because if I listen to what they are asking I wouldn’t get anything done.’

She also defended her decision to give portfolios to PNM councillors. ’The three councillors (PNM), they represent a certain faction of the people of Chaguanas. You also have to take into consideration that the corporation is to serve the people. It was also brought to my attention that in the past, councillors on sub-committees were not holding meetings, so I felt also that maybe it would be burdensome to return all these committees.

’I took that stand because we really have to work together at the borough to get things done in spite of our political differences, and give back to the people what they have asked for,’ she added.