40-plus coalition, opposition MPs to hop over to Bhumjaithai shortly

By Thai Newsroom Reporters

MORE THAN 40 MPs will likely hop over from their current camps either on the coalition side or opposition bloc to the Bhumjaithai Party very shortly, said partisan sources today (Dec.11).

Those politicians who are expected to defect within the upcoming Thursday at the cost of their own MP status to the second largest coalition partner steered by de facto Bhumjaithai boss Newin Chidchob include 14 Palang Pracharath MPs, 10 Pheu Thai MPs, five Move Forward MPs and three Thai Economic MPs, among others.

The Palang Pracharath is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, largely known as kingmaker who will very likely take his turn as partisan candidate for prime minister after the next general election, whilst the Pheu Thai performs under guidance of de facto party boss Thaksin Shinawatra who has blatantly yearned to return home from self-exile overseas alongside his sister/former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Among the 40-plus defectors from among several camps on either side of the House chamber aisle, no less than 37 are expected to show up at the Bhumjaithai Party’s headquarters as newly-registered partisan members on the upcoming Friday, the sources said.

Of those party-hoppers, a few have desperately negotiated a delay in their planned defection to the Bhumjaithai until after New Year season during which they would prefer to be seen by their respective constituents as a current MP rather than a former one.

No by-election is required by law to otherwise find replacements for any MPs who may hop over from one party to another, thus rendering an immediate loss of their MP status at any time within 180 days ahead of March 24, the date on which the current four-year House term is scheduled to end.

Though Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is merely viewed as nominal leader of the second largest coalition partner, he will certainly be named Bhumjaithai partisan contender for head of a post-election government, they said.

The Bhumjaithai might offer themselves as partner of a ruling coalition the core of which could possibly be any other camp after the nationwide election, speculated early next year.

CAPTIONS:

Top: Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, third from left, and other Bhumjaithai Party members at a recent meeting. Photo: Thai Rath

Front Page: De facto Bhumjaithai boss Newin Chidchob. Photo: INN News

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