By Thai Newsroom Reporters
NEWIN CHIDCHOB, the de facto Bhumjaithai boss, will almost certainly have the final say as to who among the party’s rank and file will be given ministerial seats in a Bhumjaithai-led government under re-elected premiership of Anutin Charnvirakul, according to partisan sources.
With an army of 192 designate-MPs under the Bhumjaithai banners and his command, albeit practiced in surreptitious, hush-hush fashion, Newin is now considerably busy making choices over certain partisan figures to be named members of the Anutin II cabinet in regard to the number of elected lawmakers whom each of them has brought to parliament, particularly those who successfully contested in constituency-based mode of last month’s nationwide election.
The de facto Bhumjaithai boss’s painstaking task of picking partisan persons for ministers is seen as an ultimately challenging episode of his power play since there are more of them to be considered than earlier anticipated but Newin who has been literally performing behind the scenes as “Mr. Fix-It” will manipulate it since all MPs will convene in the House of Representatives sooner than later to vote for head of a post-election government following the naming of a trio for a House speaker and a couple of deputy House speakers some time this month.
Taken into account are those attached to dozens of “Big House” families and elected either with or without covert, undue assistance of government officials at varied levels in the provinces throughout the country, especially those under command of the Ministry of Interior where the caretaker prime minister Anutin has been taking charge in concurrent fashion.
Remarkably, some heads of the contestants who ran under the tickets of Newin’s camp and scored victories in all constituencies of 20 provinces will likely be named members of cabinet alongside others known to represent the “Big House” families of politicians. Those all-for-Bhumjaithai provinces include Buriram, the largest stronghold of Newin’s camp and native province of his own, with 10 MP seats, Surin eight, Petchabun six and Ayutthaya five, among others with only one or a few MPs each.
In proportion to the total number of 192 Bhumjaithai MPs, one member of cabinet will roughly represent 10 of those elected legislators, thus accounting for a total of 19 in addition to five “non-politician technocrats” who are performing under the caretaker government for the time being.
Largely expected to be named members of the Anutin II cabinet are Newin’s son/Bhumjaithai secretary-general Chaichanok Chidchob who is simultaneously attached to Buriram’s “Big House”, former deputy House speaker Paradorn Prisnanuntakul of Ang Thong’s “Big House”, Pattana Prompat, son of Santi Prompat as head of Petchabun’s “Big House” and Surasak Pancharoenworakul as head of Ayutthaya’s “Big House”, among others.
Those “Big House” figures are undoubtedly struggling for preferable ministerial seats but it is only up to the de facto Bhumjaithai boss to make final decisions for them all, according to the partisan sources.
In Thai political jargon, “Big House” generally refers to families of powerful figures who may be elected or re-elected at varied levels of political positions ranging from sub-district, district and provincial to national for a consecutive number of years.
In the meantime, a similar power struggle is currently taking place at the Pheu Thai, the second largest coalition partner remotely steered by de facto party boss/inmate Thaksin Shinawatra with eight partisan figures tipped to be named members of the Bhumjaithai-led cabinet. Speculated to be named members of cabinet under the Pheu Thai quota are Yodchanan Wongsawat, nephew of Thaksin’s, and Pheu Thai leader Julapun Amornvivat, among others.
Remarkably, a couple of co-leaders of Sam Mit faction within Thaksin’s camp namely Suriya Juangroongruangkit and Somsak Thepsuthin might probably be denied ministerial seats despite the events in which the former had acted as the party’s electoral campaign director and the latter had managed to have several of his protege contestants elected in upper-central constituencies.
However, the Anutin II cabinet of ministers was more or less designed to do without “old-timer” politicians such as the likes of Suriya and Somsak or “gray” ones such as de facto Klatham boss Thammanat Prompao who has been invariably accused of fostering personal relationships with transnational scam and money-laundering suspects including Benjamin Mauerberger, alias Ben Smith, they said.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page – De facto Bhumjaithai boss Newin Chidchob. Photos – Amarin TV
First insert – Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul leading Bhumjaithai Party members to register as MPs at Parliament today, Mar. 5, 2026. Photos – Naewna
Second insert – Yodchanan Wongsawat, Pheu Thai’s prime minister candidate, talking to the press recently. Photo – Pheu Thai website
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