OPPOSITION Member of Parliament for Mayaro, Winston ’Gypsy’ Peters, says he is at the point of weighing his political options. And one option, if Basdeo Panday remains the political leader of the United National Congress (UNC), is the possibility of joining the Congress of the People (COP).

In a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, Peters said he will pursue whatever options are open to him if he decides to remain in the political arena.

’If he (Panday) puts himself up for the (internal) elections they want to have or say they having, and he wins, I will leave the UNC,’ Gypsy said.

’It is only until such time that a decision will be made in terms of my options. I have to see exactly how this is working and exactly what is happening, because the UNC did a lot for this country and I am UNC and I want us to work. But we cannot work with Mr Panday as the leader, he could take this party no further.’

Asked whether there have been any latest attempts at reconciliation between the dissident faction, which includes himself, Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner and Tabaquite MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Peters said talk is always happening internally.

’We have to continue to talk, and reconciliation is always an option. As a matter of fact, it’s the best option but it has to be done in a certain way. Nobody can’t go and reconcile with Mr Panday to have a new leader or anything like that, it’s not going to work,’ he said.

’The kind of reconciliation which needs to happen is all of us getting together and telling Mr Panday he has to go, and reconciling with the people who have left the party and those on opposing sides, so we can win.’

Peters said he believes the people at the helm of the UNC do not want to embark upon an internal election process. He said the proposed plan to have it held in January may conflict with Local Government elections, and this may be used as an excuse to delay the party’s elections even further.

Asked whether there is a legal option which he and others could consider to force the party into holding elections, he said, ’I don’t know. That is for the legal minds to answer. But I think there should be a moral mind, because if these people had any morals they would know what should be done.

’But it’s not (being) done. They are making every effort for it not to be done so they could hold on to whatever they are holding on to. I don’t know what that is, but I would not be a part of it.’