By Thai Newsroom Reporters
CHAIKASEM NITISIRI MIGHT probably replace the Pheu Thai-attached Srettha Thavisin as prime minister if the latter was finally impeached by court or pressed by others to step down in foreseeable future, said a noted academic today (May 30).
NIDA’s Political & Strategic Development Project Director Pichai Rattanadilok na Phuket said the quiet Chaikasem, currently a Pheu Thai MP, might probably be picked as prime minister in place of Srettha who could possibly be impeached by the Constitutional Court, thus automatically being deprived of the prime minister’s status or might finally call it quits under mounting pressure from among the Pheu Thai rank and file under de facto party boss Thaksin Shinawatra.
Chaikasem was among a trio of Pheu Thai partisan candidates for prime minister contesting last year’s election in addition to Thaksin’s daughter/Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Srettha.
Chaikasem would merely be used as a stopgap between Srettha and Paetongtarn as far as the de facto Pheu Thai boss is concerned, according to the NIDA political analyst.
The likes of Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul allegedly under control of de facto Bhumjaithai boss Newin Chidchob and Palang Pracharath leader Prawit Wongsuwan, among others, would be unlikely to secure enough yea votes from Pheu Thai-led coalition MPs in bid to grab the premiership if Srettha was ever impeached or stepped down, Pichai said.
Whilst the country’s ultra-conservative elite were apparently mounting pressure upon the billionaire, powerful Thaksin to the extent that he stop flexing his political muscles, albeit in discreet, hush-hush fashion, allegedly as part of a “secret deal” earlier reached between both sides, the de facto Pheu Thai boss would already have resolved to keep the elected premiership with the Pheu Thai rather than leave it to any other coalition partners, Pichai commented.
The “secret deal” had allegedly provided for the previously self-exiled Thaksin to return home without being literally put in jail to otherwise serve a curtailed, one-year jail sentence, be granted contentious privileges of a prolonged stay in a private ward at Police Hospital under the pretext of “critical illnesses”, to manipulate the setup of the Pheu Thai-led government with Srettha being overwhelmingly voted head of government by a majority of MPs plus most of coup junta-named senators, to allocate cabinet portfolios among coalition partners, to pick Pheu Thai-attached persons for cabinet members and to name his daughter the unrivalled leader of the core coalition camp.
The unnamed powers-that-be had allegedly agreed to have Srettha assume the elected premiership on “temporary” basis which had supposedly expired earlier this year but the de facto Pheu Thai boss has decidedly kept him as head of government.
Nevertheless, the ultra-conservative elite who had allegedly originally offered to have Thaksin manipulate such premeditated, political phenomena on condition that he ultimately keep the Move Forward out of the Pheu Thai-led coalition government have gradually found his “private activities” an unanticipated, upsetting phenomenon and concluded that he has engaged too much in power play since he was granted parole earlier this year and went places to refresh personal and partisan popularity among people in the provinces, according to the NIDA political analysis.
That both Thaksin and Srettha are currently faced with lese majeste and impeachment lawsuits respectively would more or less satisfy the powers-that-be, who have been desperately looking to contain the rival power of the de facto Pheu Thai boss, known to not only keep all the party’s rank and file but the Pheu Thai-attached prime minister under control.
Thaksin is scheduled on June 18 to be literally brought before the Criminal Court by the Office of the Attorney-General on charges of violating the draconian lese majeste law, also known as Section 112 of the Criminal Code, with the likelihood of being released on bail that day. In 2009, during an interview with a news agency in Seoul, Thaksin had allegedly mentioned the monarchy in association with the 2006 coup junta who had ousted him from elected premiership.
Srettha has been accused by 40 senators, allegedly loyal to Prawit, of severely breaching the junta-designed constitution and code of political ethics by naming Thaksin’s notorious former lawyer Pichit Chuenban a minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office. Though Pichit who had been earlier judged by court as guilty of committing a contempt of the court with an attempted bribery at the Supreme Court may already have resigned, Srettha has been held accountable for the alleged legal wrongdoing viewed by the senior lawmakers as a fait accompli.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: Pheu Thai MP Chaikasem Nitisiri. Top photo: Thai Rath, Front Page photo: Sanook.com
Insert: NIDA’s Political & Strategic Development Project Director Pichai Rattanadilok na Phuket. Photo: Thai Rath
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