By Thai Newsroom Reporters
WHETHER OR NOT the Klatham will be eventually brought onto the potential bandwagon of a Bhumjaithai-led government is currently hinging on a final decision to be made by Newin Chidchob, the de facto boss of the latter party, sooner than later.
Under de facto party boss Thammanat Prompao, the Klatham finally made it clear that the fourth largest elected party had already given up on their initial demands to take charge of the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperatives, among other portfolios, in exchange for their becoming part of the post-election government with Newin’s camp as core of the post-election coalition.
Nevertheless, the ultra-conservative Bhumjaithai is apparently holding trump cards over the Klatham to the extent that Thammanat’s political stakes will decisively rely on Newin’s whims without their holding a hush-hush talk with each other any longer, according to a partisan source.
Viewed as “manager of government”, Newin would be weighing positive and negative results of bringing the Democrats into the Bhumjaithai-led coalition in lieu of the Klatham whereas Thammanat would be considerably upset and disappointed if his ultimate design to be part of the post-election government was finally denied and his ultra-conservative camp was dumped in the reformist People’s-led opposition bloc.
Given the latest phenomenon in which Caretaker Prime Minister/Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul did not hold a tete-a-tete talk over lunch with Thammanat as earlier expected today, the latter’s chance of being brought onto the Bhumjaithai bandwagon of a coalition government was getting slim, the partisan source said.
In the meantime, the Democrats might probably be brought onto the Bhumjaithai bandwagon from which the Klatham will be ultimately excluded since Democrat leader/former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva categorically insisted that his Old School conservative party be by no means on the same boat as Thammanat’s camp.
Thammanat had quietly broken ranks with the Bhumjaithai upon last week’s end of the nationwide election in which the latter had unexpectedly scored overwhelming victories with 193 designate-MPs, compared to 58 for Thammanat’s camp and 22 for the Democrats.
Newin had been more or less displeased with Thammanat’s thinly-veiled plot of scrambling to get several splinter parties on his side, prompting him to manipulate the Bhumjaithai to do exactly so a few days later.
Meanwhile, the neo-conservative Pheu Thai – the third largest elected party with 74 designate-MPs, emerged as a contented, less demanding partner of the Bhumjaithai-led coalition with offered social portfolios such as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Development & Human Security, among others.
Though Thammanat has lately backed down from his demands for preferred portfolios such as the agriculture portfolio, Newin would not change his mind, given the Bhumjaithai’s probable alignment with the Democrats as an alternative partner of a Bhumjaithai-led coalition government which may muster solid support from a combined force of as many as 318 designate-MPs, including those of a dozen splinter parties with only one or a few designate-MPs each.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page – De facto Bhumjaithai boss Newin Chidchob, left in above photo, right in Front Page photo, and de facto Klatham boss Thammanat Prompao. Above photo – Naewna, Front Page photo – Thai Rath
Insert – Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Photo – Amarin TV
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