VETERAN Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) power player, Karl Samuda, says he has already identified ‘in his mind’ the person who is best placed to take over the leadership of the party when prime minister and party leader, Bruce Golding makes his exit in November.

The disclosure comes even as the country awaits word from some of those who are being eyed as possible successors.

Since the shocking announcement on Sunday, there have been suggestions that deputy leaders Audley Shaw and Dr Christopher Tufton as well as House Leader and party spokesman Andrew Holness could be lining up for the race scheduled to take place on November 21 at the party’s annual conference.

It is also understood that Robert Montague is also being eyed by some party insiders as a likely contender. However Observer sources said the agriculture minister, who cut short his official visit to Japan, will not be entering the race.

But while the likely contenders contemplate their next move, Samuda — the man in charge of the Labour Party’s election machinery — yesterday told the Observer that he knew the best person to lead the party, but said he was not yet ready to divulge that name.

“I don’t back a loser,” he declared.

“I have decided in my mind who is the best person to secure victory for the Labour Party, in my mind, beyond any shadow of a doubt, I know that. This is nothing personal, this is just strictly business. I am not going to say anything yet, by the time they declare I will be sharing that view. One of the most important things to me is that whosoever is chosen must be able to lead the party to victory at the general election. I don’t think winning a battle should be confused with winning a war,” said the man who successfully backed current general secretary and then- underdog Senator Aundre Franklyn against the powerful Daryl Vaz for the prominent post late last year.

“We are in good shape, whether we have an election of one or three people, we are going to be all right,” Samuda told the Observer.

Meanwhile key figures within the top brass of the JLP are trying to mend fences even as the party moves to identify a new leader to replace Golding.

Leaked information from Monday night’s meeting of the party’s Standing Committee revealed that there were heated exchanges, which resulted in an abrupt end to the meeting.

It is understood that the main row surrounded a meeting at the residence of Harold Brady — a party member who fell out of grace with the prime minister and other party members over the handling of the Manatt, Phelps and Phillips scandal.

Several commentators, who got wind of the crossfire at Monday’s meeting, said the party was on the verge of implosion — a characteristic that has accompanied some of the spats within the party.

Vaz, who describes himself as a confidant of Bruce Golding and who is known for his caustic utterances, was reportedly angered by the disclosure that a meeting had taken place in the aftermath of Golding’s announcement, and chided those who attended the meeting, but he maintained that the exchange was not abusive.

“There was no abusive language, bad word, there was no confrontation. I just basically put clearly on the table that, on the heels of the prime minister’s announcement, it was inappropriate for any party member to be at Brady’s house at that particular time. I went further to tell them that I couldn’t tell them who to drink with, who to support, or whose house they could visit, but for the meeting to take place at that particular time, it was bad judgement,” Vaz said.

However, his comments reportedly irked Samuda, who insisted that he could not be told what to do or where to go.

But speaking with the Observer yesterday, Vaz said things had taken a turn for the better as he had decided to ‘cool it’ in the interest of the party and the country.

Vaz added that his decision to ‘walk the Damascus road’ was also in recognition of the need to ensure that the prime minister, who buried his mother yesterday, was not overburdened by any fallout from an internal party quarrel.

Like Vaz, Samuda acknowledged that there was a heated exchange, but insisted that the meeting at Brady’s house was not orchestrated.

“Print it for me, there was no meeting, there was no plan, there was no agenda, there was no nothing. We were just sitting down having a drink and I left, next thing I hear this is a big orchestrated plan,” Samuda told the Observer, adding that he was not at Brady’s house when Holness turned up and was reportedly asked to stay out of the upcoming leadership race in order to allow Shaw to secure the leadership.

“I imagine that there are people who are disappointed at that nonsense, but I don’t think it’s something that’s going to be lasting, quite frankly, I don’t think so. However, I have issues with my name being bandied about over nonsense,” said Samuda, taking a swipe at those in the party whom he said were involved in rumour-mongering.