LEADER of Government Business Barry Padarath has rejected claims that he sought to intimidate a member of the parliamentary staff after photographing a technician during a heated Standing Finance Committee meeting on Friday.Speaking with reporters outside Parliament on Abercromby Street, Port of Spain yesterday, Padarath insisted the photograph was taken solely to identify the staff member involved in an ongoing dispute over microphones being muted during parliamentary proceedings.During Friday’s Standing Finance Committee meeting, Government members complained that their microphones had been muted. Padarath subsequently approached and photographed the parliamentary staff member responsible for managing the microphones’ audio system.The incident sparked heated exchanges between Government and Opposition MPs, with members shouting at each other across the floor of the House of Representatives.Explaining his actions, the Couva South MP said identifying the staff member was necessary if a complaint were to be taken before Parliament’s Broadcasting Committee.“It is the only way that we can identify them, because we don’t know the staff of the Parliament,” he explained.He continued: “It was never meant to be any sort of intimidatory tactic; it was meant just to identify where the possible challenges are, so when we go to the Broadcasting Committee, we can say, ‘Well, these are the technicians. These are the persons who were muting the mics at that point in time.’”Who is the war against? Asked about the conduct displayed in Parliament on Friday, Padarath defended his party’s approach.“Politics is not a tea party; the war is on and the UNC will not roll over and play dead,” he said.He added, “We (the Government) have endured this for far too long and we are drawing attention as to what has been happening inside and outside of Parliament and the bias that continues to occur.”Padarath also dismissed Opposition calls for a criminal investigation into his conduct, saying he would not be used as a scapegoat or distraction by the PNM.“I want to suggest that a criminal probe be brought against one Kareem Marcelle because we have to raise the issue of whether or not those comments were seditious,” he said.The minister was likely referring to Marcelle’s comments at a PNM public meeting at the Laventille Community Centre on Thursday night in which he said people in the UNC-led Government were using the PNM label as a racial slur, and accused them of being hostile toward Afro-Trinidadians.