NAPARIMA MP Rodney Charles has threatened to publicly expose UNC political secrets he has kept silent about for the last eight years if his loyalty to UNC is challenged because he supports a call for internal elections to be held by the party.

Charles claimed that Opposition Leader and UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has intimate knowledge of the secrets he referred to.

He made these statements when he addressed a community meeting in Woodland on May 19.

Also addressing the meeting were his fellow UNC MPs – Rushton Paray, Dinesh Rambally and Anita Haynes-Alleyne – who have also called for the party to hold internal elections ahead of next year's general election to give it the best chance of winning that election.

Charles said he and former UNC MP Fazal Karim (deceased) were members of the UNC's campaign team in 2000, the only time the party defeated the PNM in a general election without forming a coalition with any other party.

That campaign's slogan "Performance beats Ole Talk" was coined by Charles and Karim together with US political strategist James Carville.

Charles was the UNC's campaign manager for the September 7, 2015, general election when the party was in government, leading the then People's Partnership (PP) coalition.

"Remember the 2015 election and 'the spin the wheel' nonsense'? Well, today, I levelling with you and speaking the truth after eight years of keeping silent."

Before the 2015 general election, Charles appeared in different parts of the country with "Rowley's wheel of misfortune", which he spun and made claims about the Prime Minister.

Charles explained the reasons why he had to break his silence now.

"I do so because it is unfortunate that bloggers associated with the UNC, in their desire to support the status quo, they are busy spreading PNM propaganda (about me). There are people on our side who will lick us up in order to ensure that they will remain in power."

In 2000, he continued, then UNC leader Basdeo Panday (deceased) never interfered in the work being done by Carville, Karim and himself to manage the party's general election campaign.

Charles said this was not the case in 2015, as the PP sought to be re-elected for a second term.

He claimed that the election campaign was at one stage "micro-managed by the then prime minister (Persad-Bissessar)."

Charles said, "No decision in the campaign was taken without her knowledge and her approval."

The campaign, he continued, became "pure hell' as campaign manager with the UNC bringing in consultants from Canada, England, Barbados and the US to advise it.

Charles said he often had to navigate between the egos and conflicts of the different consultants to do his job.

He reminded the audience about the UNC's "No Rowley" campaign in 2015, which personally attacked then-opposition leader Dr Rowley (now Prime Minister) to discredit him and win voters' support for the PP.

Charles said, "That entire campaign was the brainchild of a Canadian consultant and there are e-mails that I have to prove it