Chaguanas deputy mayor Orlando Nagessar, who is also a member of the United National Congress disciplinary committee, has said he does not intend to step down from the committee which would decide whether dissident MPs Jack Warner, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Winston Peters would be expelled from the party.

’I think Nagessar is mature enough to distinguish right from wrong, and that is the principle on which this committee is based, to look at facts and decide what is right and wrong,’ Nagessar told the Express by phone yesterday.

On Thursday, the UNC executive referred Maharaj and Peters to the disciplinary committee after they failed to answer charges made against them. It is likely Warner would face a similar fate this week when the executive meets.

Nagessar is one of the 12 members of the disciplinary committee, which is chaired by Rabindranath Dookie. Ousted Chaguanas mayor Suruj Rambachan is not a member of the committee.

In March this year, the committee was appointed at the party’s national congress meeting. Nagessar said since then, one meeting was held and now that there is work for the committee to do, it is anticipated a meeting would be scheduled soon.

Nagessar has been critical of newly-appointed Mayor Natasha Navas and blamed the ’RamjackG’ faction for the ousting of Rambachan as mayor.

The alleged ousting of Rambachan is also one of the 25 charges levelled against Warner.

Nagessar asserted he would remain objective in the deliberations and stressed there are 11 other members on the committee.

He said as a leader, the principle of fairness was fundamental.

Warner lashed out at Nagessar for his comments towards newly-appointed Mayor Natasha Navas, saying he, Warner, will deal with Nagassar at a public meeting on Friday, scheduled to be held in the Couva North constituency of Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday. Warner is planning on opening an office in Couva North, he has said, to represent the people. Panday held a meeting at Nagessar’s office on Thursday to meet with residents in Warner’s Chaguanas West constituency.

Nagessar said he wanted to clear the air on the issue of disrespecting Navas, saying he has never done so.

’I have never attacked Navas. I was the first to welcome her. In fact, the first time I met her, I told her my daughter is as old as she is, and I never disrespected my daughter,’ said Nagessar.

’It is the other way around, she (Navas) has disrespected me. She has never invited me to her office for anything. That is a great disrespect,’ he said, adding he was there to serve the people, and he does not intend to let internal issues cloud his vision.

’My mantra is malice towards none, love towards all,’’ he stressed.

Nagessar also said he wanted the internal battle in the UNC to come to an end as the more infighting there is in the party, the stronger the People’s National Movement gets.