By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE RUAM THAI SANG CHART could possibly disintegrate after Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, leader of the military-installed party, is ousted as energy minister from the Pheu Thai-led government in the next few months, according to partisan sources.
De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra would prefer to keep the Ruam Thai Sang Chart under covert guidance of former coup leader-turned-prime minister/now privy councilor Prayut Chan-o-cha as the third largest coalition partner until censure debate against the current coalition government has passed in March, the partisan sources said.
Then, the billionaire power player/father of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra could probably manipulate to kick Pirapan out of the Paetongtarn cabinet whilst simultaneously keeping the Ruam Thai Sang Chart as part of the Pheu Thai-led coalition government.
Nevertheless, the Ministry of Energy is invariably viewed as one of the major economic portfolios on which the largest ruling Pheu Thai has focused and intended to run in addition to the Ministry of Transport, thus prompting the de facto Pheu Thai boss to manage to have the Ruam Thai Sang Chart leader replaced by a prominent figure of his camp at any given time, the sources said.
Given the sustained discrepancy raised by the current energy minister over government policy matters in regard to contentious energy management and expensive power rates, the de facto Pheu Thai boss could possibly have Pirapan kicked out of the Paetongtarn cabinet whilst Thaksin himself would almost certainly maintain personal ties with the likes of Gulf Energy Development CEO Sarath Ratanavadi, among other business moguls, a partisan source said.
Under the anticipated circumstances closely following the censure debate to be launched by the People’s-led opposition in the House of Representatives the Ruam Thai Sang Chart could probably be pressed to part company with the Pheu Thai-led government with some of their MPs being formally ousted from the pro-Prayut camp whilst others staying put and joining ranks with those in the opposition bloc.
In the meantime, the future renegade MPs could possibly apply for partisan membership with the New Opportunity, a brand-new party headed by former provincial governors and quietly endorsed by their predecessors at the Ministry of Interior.
“Given the Palang Pracharath model, the Ruam Thai Sang Chart could possibly be split in two after they have been kicked out of the Pheu Thai-led government with one clique staying put as part of the opposition bloc and the other skipping over to the New Opportunity,” said a partisan source who only spoke on condition of anonymity.
Given a recent precedent in which a clique of 20 renegade MPs headed by Thammanat Prompao who had been previously attached to the Palang Pracharath had jumped onto the Klatham bandwagon to finally stay with the Pheu Thai-led government, the New Opportunity could possibly follow suit by becoming the latest coalition partner, they said.
If formally expelled from one party, elected lawmakers are legally given a 60-day period to register themselves as members of another to keep their MP status intact.
The brand-new Klatham is formally led by Agriculture & Cooperatives Minister Narumon Panyasinwat who is personally close to Thammanat, one of her predecessors in that portfolio and a former secretary-general of the Palang Pracharath.
The New Opportunity currently features Supakit Bhoprapapan as leader, Thongchai Lue-adul as secretary-general and Sopon Thongdee as treasurer of the brand-new party.
Supakit, a former provincial governor of Lopburi, is personally connected with former undersecretary for interior Chatchai Promlert whilst Thongchai, a former provincial governor of Nakhon Ratchasima, is personally close to former undersecretary of interior Suthipong Julcharoen. Sopon is a former director-general of the Department of Marine & Coastal Resources.
CAPTION:
Top and Front Page: Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga. Photos: Sanook.com
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