By Thai Newsroom Reporters
DE FACTO PHEU THAI BOSS Thaksin Shinawatra has recently held hush-hush talks with unidentified, highly-placed figures in a last-ditch effort to bargain for his daughter-turned-Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to stay in power, a partisan source said today (Nov. 18).
Given an encompassing lawsuit earlier filed against Thaksin and his largest ruling party, the billionaire power player has recently engaged in the secret, bargaining round with certain persons associated with the unnamed powers-that-be in pursuit of “conditional mercy” to the extent that his daughter/prime minister who concurrently acts as Pheu Thai leader be spared an immediate suspension from performing as head of government, pending a relevant verdict of the Constitutional Court, according to the partisan source.
“When it comes to engaging in the power play, the (de facto Pheu Thai) boss never missed the opportunity to talk things over with highly-placed representatives of the powers-that-be,” said the source who only spoke on condition of anonymity.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether Thaksin’s bargaining power will bear fruit in regard to an imminent future of his daughter/prime minister as the Constitutional Court is largely expected to decide on the upcoming Friday whether to accept the lawsuit against him.
The de facto Pheu Thai boss was undoubtedly concerned over the possibility that his daughter/prime minister might follow suit of her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, who had been suspended by court from doing his prime-ministerial duties until he was finally impeached and deposed of power last August.
Paetongtarn might possibly be given the duty suspension order on grounds of her ruling party being allegedly clandestinely prone to the domineering and steering by her father/de facto Pheu Thai boss.
If finally found guilty of perpetrating the illegal tampering with the Pheu Thai rank and file as alleged in separate cases, the billionaire power player could possibly prompt the Constitutional Court to dissolve the largest ruling party and deprive his daughter of elected premiership.
According to the anti-Thaksin lawsuits, the de facto Pheu Thai boss has been accused of domineering and steering the Pheu Thai internal affairs, hosting a hush-hush meeting of coalition partners at his Chan Song Lah house hours after Srettha had been deposed of power by court, manipulating to turn his personal views into the Pheu Thai-led government’s policies, kicking the Palang Pracharath out of the current coalition and exerting pressure on the government to go ahead with a profit-sharing, Thai-Cambodian undersea natural resources development project around Koh Kood island off Trat, following his private talks with former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen a few days after he had been released on parole from Police Hospital earlier this year, among other alleged wrongdoings.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra attending the 31st Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Peru. Photos: Thai Rath
Insert: De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra. Photo: Thai Rath
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