Port-of-Spain (Trinidad Express):

United National Con-gress (UNC) political leader Winston Dookeran says he remains committed to the formation of a single party to defeat the ruling People's National Movement in the next general election, but wants to meet with Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar before meeting with the executive of the now divided UNC.

Dookeran did not attend Wednesday evening's meeting of the UNC executive at Rienzi Complex, Couva, but maintained he had not abandoned the process of forming a single party. However, he did not specify whether it would be the UNC or some other political party.

"Well, that will be left to be determined based on the discussions we have," Dookeran said on Wednesday.

"I would like to go through the steps to finding the common ground. I would also respond to the mandate of the people as soon as we find the appropriate method by which such a mandate can be expressed."

Dookeran made the declaration during a news conference at his St. Augustine constituency office in Pasea, Tunapuna, where he explained why he decided not to attend the executive meeting which UNC founder Basdeo Panday recommended as a way to help unify the party during the party's national assembly tomorrow.

News conference

The news conference began at about 4.20 p.m., almost two hours after Dookeran sent a letter to UNC general secretary, Fazal Karim, stating his reasons for not attending the executive meeting, which was scheduled to begin at 5.30 p.m.

In his letter, which he distributed to the media, Dookeran responded to the invitation sent to him by Persad-Bissessar to attend yesterday's meeting.

Dookeran wrote: "You will note that the 'invitation' was issued publicly in the context of an 'ultimatum' and against the vitriolic and persistent attacks on me by members of the executive.

"Notwithstanding the situation, I welcome all initiatives geared towards building a single party to successfully challenge the PNM in the next general elections. As you would no doubt recall, before the 'National Assembly' was held on Saturday afternoon, I made a public call for the Leader of the Opposition to meet with me as we seek to further the aforementioned objective."

Dookeran called on Persad-Bissessar to meet with him to work on a clear and concrete agenda to seriously achieve this objective.

"Subsequent to that discussion, I would be happy to convene a meeting of the executive and other members of the party who were once part of the executive, to discuss how to proceed to develop a single party that will be able to seriously challenge the PNM," Dookeran said at the news conference.