By Thai Newsroom Reporters
PRIME MINISTER PAETONGTARN Shinawatra today (Apr. 29) categorically dismissed speculation of a reshuffle of her cabinet of ministers, saying she had not even thought about it.
In a press conference during a roving cabinet meeting in Nakhon Phanom, the prime minister/daughter of de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters that rumours about the reshuffling of her cabinet for the first time had taken her by surprise because, she said, it had not yet dawned on her that a new cabinet lineup be due anytime soon despite hearsay of one as soon as early next month.
Paetongtarn was apparently responding to sustained speculation that certain cabinet members attached to the Pheu Thai and Bhumjaithai, core of the coalition and second largest coalition partner respectively, be reshuffled out amidst allegations of the Pheu Thai-led government poorly handling the country’s economic issues as well as unresolved conflict between both ruling parties.
In particular, the woman prime minister downplayed rumours of Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, viewed as Thaksin’s right-hand man, being removed from the defence minister’s seat which he concurrently assumes and returned to the commerce minister’s seat which he had previously held.
Nevertheless, the billionaire, power-playing Thaksin has been invariably alleged of pulling the strings behind his “puppet” prime minister and being decisively instrumental, albeit in hush-hush, surreptitious manner, in the allocation of cabinet portfolios among coalition partners and reshuffling of Pheu Thai cabinet members.
The de facto Pheu Thai boss had been more or less anticipated to manipulate to exchange the interior minister’s seat currently held by Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul who concurrently assumes the post of deputy prime minister for another major cabinet seat with the lion’s share in a yearly government budget at his disposal.
Besides, certain ministers had been speculated to be either kicked out of the Paetongtarn cabinet or removed from their current cabinet portfolios to others. Those would include Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthapan, Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, who concurrently acts as deputy prime minister, Agriculture & Cooperatives Minister Narumon Pinyosinwat, who concurrently acts as leader of the Klatham, and Phumtham, who is largely viewed as Thaksin’s right-hand man.
CAPTION:
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra addressing a cabinet meeting in Nakhon Phanom, above, and together with cabinet ministers, Front Page. Photos: Thai Rath
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