Charrandas Persaud

Charrandas Persaud is a Canadian-Guyanese lawyer and politician, who was Guyana's High Commissioner to India from March 2021 to October 2022. He was a member of the Guyanese National Assembly from 2015 to 2018, representing the Alliance for Change party in the East Berbice-Corentyne region (Region 6).

Personal life Persaud was born in Guyana, and moved to Canada in the 1970s and later obtained a real estate license. He returned to Guyana in 1999 and studied law at University of Guyana.

Career As a politician, Persaud was a member of the Alliance for Change (AFC) party. In 2013, Persaud left the AFC for two months, East Berbice-Corentyne. The AFC formed a coalition government with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). In late 2018, Persaud supported the government's budget for 2019. Persaud was critical of the government's downsizing of the Guyanese sugar industry, which he argued cost thousands of jobs. He also believed that the AFC was just blindly supporting APNU policies, and was particularly critical of a pension bill by prime minister Hamilton Green. Persaud also received death threats. After reaching Canada, Persaud chose not to pledge allegiance to any Guyanese political party, Persaud was replaced by APNU's Barbara Pilgrim in the National Assembly. Pilgrim had been an APNU candidate in Region 6 at the 2015 election. One allegation was that Persaud was not a Guyanese citizen. The no confidence vote was eventually upheld, triggering the 2020 Guyanese general election. Persaud endorsed PPC candidate Irfaan Ali for the 2020 Guyanese election. In the court case, it was ruled that dual citizens could not be members of the Guyana National Assembly, forcing four government ministers to resign.

Persaud denied allegations that he was bribed or coerced to vote with the PPP.

High commissioner In March 2021, Persaud was appointed Guyana's High Commissioner to India. He was removed from his position in October 2022 after a video became viral of him insulting a woman for enquiring about a stray dog that lived in Persaud's compound. Persaud's driver had killed the dog.