AFTER Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan came under attack for distributing thousands of plastic water bowls to people with his name as Palang Pracharath Party leader and Songkran greeting printed on it, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul quickly jumped to his defence, Sanook.com said today (August 6).
Anutin, who is the leader of Bhumjaithai Party, said it is normal to distribute this sort of a gift during Songkran with his party having been doing so for a decade now.
Asked by reporters why former prime ministerThaksin Shinawatra was stopped from distributing water bowls a few years ago, Anutin replied that occurred during election season and it is not the same as doing so during normal times.
He added that if he distributed bottles of alcohol with his name on it to the party’s canvassers, it would be within his right to do so.
The bowls that Palang Pracharat Party is distributing come in three colours – green, blue and purple. Each party MP is being given 5,000 of them to distribute to their constituents.
While the party’s MP from Phitsanulok province Mr Manat On-ai put all his share of the bowls in his vehicle by himself after yesterday’s party meeting, even as some other MPs got their aides to do so, there were other MPs who rejected them because of the inconvenience in transporting them back to their province.
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Top and Home Page: The water bowls being distributed by Gen Prawit as leader of the Palang Pracharath Party. Thai headline says, “Big Pom’s (Gen. Prawit’s nickname) water bowls. Photos: Sanook.com
