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Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Bar­ry Padarath has come to the de­fence of Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar fol­low­ing crit­i­cism from Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les over her ab­sence from the Na­tion­al Day of Prayer, host­ed by the In­ter-Re­li­gious Or­gan­i­sa­tion at Di­vali Na­gar.

Beck­les had ex­pressed dis­ap­point­ment that the Prime Min­is­ter did not at­tend the in­ter­faith ser­vice, which was held in place of the tra­di­tion­al In­de­pen­dence Day pa­rade. She ar­gued that if the Gov­ern­ment had can­celled the long-stand­ing pa­rade in favour of a day of prayer, then Per­sad-Bisses­sar should have been present to lead the oc­ca­sion.

Speak­ing in an in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia, Padarath dis­missed Beck­les’ com­ments as po­lit­i­cal point-scor­ing. “I want to cau­tion the Op­po­si­tion Leader against us­ing re­li­gious oc­ca­sions to score cheap po­lit­i­cal points,” he said.