Oh you could read into anything what you want. The fact is both Basdeo Panday and Patrick Manning agreed to let the President decide. Try to understand this KEY point.
They both agreed to allow the President to choose whomsoever he wishes.

Secondly, I have no evidence that any deal was made between the PM and the President.

When President Robinson gave the two Tobago seats to Basdeo Panday's UNC allowing him to become the PM for the first time, there was widespread reports that a deal was made to appoint Mr Robinson as the President.

So if there was a deal this time, and mind you this is just Basdeo Panday's propaganda, he set the stage for all sorts of misconduct in office which he adamantly defended.