By Thai Newsroom Reporters
CHART THAI PATTANA Secretary-General Prapat Pothasuthon will likely join the Klatham now that Chart Thai Pattana leader Varawut Silpa-archa has opted to jump onto the Bhumjaithai bandwagon with intent to seek re-election under the tickets of the coalition partner and core of the coalition government respectively, according to a partisan source.
Prapat who concurrently performs as MP of Supanburi is expected to break ranks with Varawut and other partisan colleagues by departing from the Chart Thai Pattana to the Klatham under de facto party boss/Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Agriculture & Cooperatives Minister Thammanat Prompao after Varawut has recently vowed to lead an en masse departure of Chart Thai Pattana MPs for the Bhumjaithai under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob and seek re-election under the Bhumjaithai banners in the nationwide race to parliament which could probably be held as soon as early February.
Varawut, son of the former Chart Thai Pattana leader/late prime minister Banharn Silpa-archa, is generally viewed as head of Supanburi’s “Big House” where five Chart Thai Pattana MPs including Prapat currently represent all of the lower-central province’s constituencies in addition to Nakhon Pathom’s “Big House” headed by the Sasomsap family with three Chart Thai Pattana MPs currently representing half the total constituencies of the neighbouring province.
Varawut who was the only Chart Thai Pattana contestant elected in party-listed mode said he considered his Supanburi-based party, now part of the opposition bloc, a splinter camp which may be no longer able to go on with their electoral campaigns, thus prompting himself to lead an exodus of the Chart Thai Pattana MPs for Newin’s camp which has reportedly aimed at making no less than 120 MPs in the upcoming, nationwide race to parliament, compared to 71 in the 2023 election.
Besides, a few Palang Pracharath MPs currently representing upper-central constituencies are anticipated to skip over to the Klatham alongside others from the disintegrating Ruam Thai Sang Chart who have quietly planned to leave for Thammanat’s camp, the partisan source said.
The de facto Klatham boss had earlier parted company with the Palang Pracharath, headed by former deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwan, and managed to join ranks with the Bhumjaithai-led coalition government.
Former Democrat leader Chalermchai Sri-on and former Democrat secretary-general Dej-it Khaotong are also expected to jump onto the Klatham bandwagon alongside several Democrat MPs representing southern constituencies and to contest the upcoming election under their banners of Thammanat’s camp.
“Big House” politicians are more or less speculated to retain their MP seats vying in constituency-based mode, given personal influence which they may exert albeit in discreet, surreptitious fashion over their respective constituents and large volumes of “ammunition” with which they could possibly literally buy their way to parliament either in addition to any partisan hype or without it.
In another development, Pheu Thai Secretary-General Prasert Chanthararuangthong demanded that a couple of Pheu Thai MPs, namely Sarasanan Annopporn of Khon Kaen and Sudarat Pithakpornpallop of Ubon Ratchathani, resign as members of the opposition party, thus being automatically deprived of their MP status, due to their allegedly thinly-veiled plans to depart for the Bhumjaithai and seek re-election under the banners of Newin’s camp.
He said Sarasanan and Sudarat as well as several other renegade lawmakers currently attached to the Pheu Thai would be sooner than later charged for perpetrating an ethical breach if they allegedly pretended to stay any longer with the opposition camp and failed to participate in partisan activities whilst waiting to jump onto the ruling Bhumjaithai bandwagon.
A number of Pheu Thai MPs representing northeastern constituencies, particularly those of the lower-northeastern ones which share a border with Cambodia, are anticipated to skip over to the Bhumjaithai after Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has dissolved the House of Representatives, speculated as soon as early next month, for fear of being defeated seeking re-election in constituency-based mode under the Pheu Thai banners.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of de facto Pheu Thai boss/inmate Thaksin Shinawatra and a court-deposed prime minister, was in no small measure put to blame for an exponential decline of the party’s credibility and hype due to her disreputable, erroneous handling of Thai-Cambodian conflict highlighted by a leaked cellphone chat between senior Cambodian leader Hun Sen and herself and culminating in five-day clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces along the disputed border resulting in many fatalities and injuries on both sides.
CAPTIONS:
Top – Chart Thai Pattana Secretary-General Prapat Pothasuthon, right, party leader Varawut Silpa-archa. Photo – Amarin TV
Front Page – Chart Thai Pattana Secretary-General Prapat Pothasuthon. Photo – PPTVHD36
First insert – Klatham under de facto party boss/Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Agriculture & Cooperatives Minister Thammanat Prompao. Photo – Thai Rath
Second insert – Former Democrat leader Chalermchai Sri-on. Photo – Amarin TV
Third insert – Pheu Thai Secretary-General Prasert Chanthararuangthong. Photo – Thai Rath
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