By Thai Newsroom Reporters
DE FACTO PHEU THAI BOSS Thaksin Shinawatra is evidently being bound to choose between two opposing sides of the Palang Pracharath and bring either one into his coalition government, partisan sources said over the weekend.
The billionaire power player Thaksin, father of newly-named Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, will ultimately have to opt for either one side headed by Palang Pracharath leader Prawit Wongsuwan or the other headed by Palang Pracharath secretary-general Thammanat Prompao amidst evident conflict of interest between the both of them.
However, Prawit has apparently taken a compromising approach to keeping the third largest coalition partner with 40 MPs as part of the Pheu Thai-led government whilst Thammanat has looked determined to join the coalition government, albeit not as part of the Palang Pracharath but a faction of renegade MPs, and simultaneously encourage the de facto Pheu Thai boss to do without Prawit’s side, the partisan sources said.
Prawit has managed to have the Palang Pracharath executive board name four partisan nominees for ministers, namely Patcharawat Wongsuwan, Santi Prompat, Attakorn Sirilatthayakorn and Thammanat, all of whom being the same ones seated in a previous Pheu Thai-led cabinet under former prime minister Srettha Thavisin.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether Thaksin will finally take the risk of accepting Thammanat, acting agriculture & cooperatives minister, as one of the newly-named ministers in his daughter’s cabinet, given contentious, personal conduct of the Palang Pracharath secretary-general who had been earlier arrested on drug-trafficking charges and sentenced by Australia’s court to months in jail.
Paetongtarn has earlier vowed to see to it that personal backgrounds of all ministerial nominees be thoroughly double-checked by the Council of State to not repeat an avoidable blunder earlier made by her predecessor Srettha over the naming of a former convict for a portfolioless minister.
Meanwhile, Thammanat has tacitly recommended Thaksin pick his side with a couple of nominees for a ministerial seat, namely Naruemon Pinyosinwat, with whom he has been closely associated, and his brother Akhara Prompao, for the de facto Pheu Thai boss to pick either one and simultaneously kick out Prawit’s brother Patcharawat and Santi, with whom he had personally locked horns over the last few years.
Whilst Thammanat is personally associated with Thaksin over the last decades, the de facto Pheu Thai boss had held grudges against the Palang Pracharath leader whom he had suspected of having managed to have 40 former senators launch an impeachment lawsuit against Srettha who was consequently deposed of power by the Constitutional Court on grounds of severely breaching the code of political ethics.
That refers to the contentious naming by the deposed prime minister of the former lawyer-turned-convict Pichit Chuenban who had been previously hired and allegedly awarded the ministerial seat by the de facto Pheu Thai boss.
Remarkably, Thammanat was nowhere on a list of ministerial nominees submitted from his own side to Prommin Lertsuridej, a right-hand man for Thaksin and former prime-ministerial secretary-general, either Naruemon or Akhara could probably be named agriculture & cooperatives minister to replace him in an imminent cabinet lineup. That compares to a list of ministerial nominees on which the name of the rebellious Thammanat was included and submitted from Prawit’s side.
Thammanat who has had a dozen-plus Palang Pracharath MPs under control had quietly held a hush-hush talk with Democrat MPs who could probably be brought into the Pheu Thai-led government if the Palang Pracharath as a whole was kicked out of it whilst his side could probably be ousted by the third largest coalition partner and then skip over to the Pheu Thai, core of the current coalition.
Any MPs who may be ousted from one party for whatever reasons are immediately given a 30-day period to join another one to keep their MP status intact as provided by law.
Democrat leader Chalermchai Sri-on who has had 21 Democrat MPs at his command and Democrat secretary-general Det-it Khaothong would probably be given ministerial seats in the Paetongtarn I cabinet lineup if their party has finally joined the Pheu Thai-led coalition government.
In another development, the Bhumjaithai, the second largest coalition partner under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob, and the Ruam Thai Sang Chart, the fourth largest coalition partner under de facto party boss/former coup leader-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, have smoothly handed their respective ministerial nominees for the Paetongtarn I cabinet.
But it remains to be seen whether Thaksin will accept Ruam Thai Sang Chart secretary-general Ekanat Prompan as one of the newly-named ministers, given his questionable, personal conduct since he had been instrumental in Bangkok’s street protests which culminated in the 2014 coup staged by the then-army chief Prayut to oust his sister/former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra.
First insert: Palang Pracharath leader Prawit Wongsuwan.
Second insert: Palang Pracharath secretary-general Thammanat Prompao. All photos: Thai Rath
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