Sto­ry by CHESTER SAM­BRA­NO

Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress leader Kam­la Per­sad Bisses­sar SC is mak­ing it clear that Ravi Rati­ram re­mains the par­ty’s can­di­date for Cou­va North.

Ear­li­er to­day, there were re­ports sur­fac­ing that Rati­ram had been re­placed by At­tor­ney at law Rishi Tri­pathi.

This was con­firmed to Guardian Me­dia by se­nior mem­bers of the UNC.

How­ev­er, Rati­ram was seen fil­ing nom­i­na­tions.

Asked about the mat­ter af­ter she filed her own nom­i­na­tion pa­pers, Mrs Per­sad-Bisses­sar said Rati­ram is the can­di­date for Cou­va North.

Pressed on the re­ports com­ing from with­in her camp she said:

”I am the leader and I am al­so the head of the Screen­ing Com­mit­tee.”

She main­tained that she has “no idea” about any changes be­ing made.

When it was re­vealed weeks ago that in­cum­bent Ra­mona Ram­di­al did not get the nod to con­test the seat, there were some protests from some con­stituents call­ing on the par­ty to re­think its de­ci­sion.