By Thai Newsroom Reporters
DE FACTO Klatham boss/leader Thammanat Prompao is quietly looking for ways and means to regain the agriculture & cooperatives portfolio of which he used to take charge in a possible reshuffle of the Bhumjaithai-led cabinet speculated after censure debate later this month or early next.
The maverick Thammanat was surreptitiously encouraging de facto Bhumjaithai boss Newin Chidchob, largely known as “manager of government” who has pulled the strings behind the scenes, to think twice about the sustained naming of the Pheu Thai-attached Suriya Juangroongruangkit as agriculture & cooperatives minister despite his allegedly inept handling of the critical flooding situation due to recurring, heavy downpours and excess water over the central, western and eastern regions of the country, plus his personal preference to opt for another portfolio in lieu of the current one in the first place, according to a partisan source who only spoke on condition of anonymity.
Importantly, Thammanat would probably be more favourite to run measures under the agriculture & cooperatives portfolio in general and to do the flooding crisis management in particular, compared to Suriya as far as the Bhumjaithai, core of the current coalition government, is concerned, the partisan source said.
The Irrigation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperatives is one of the major government agencies invariably held accountable for measures to contain the flash flood situation alongside the Meteorological Department under the Ministry of Digital Economy & Society and the Office of National Water Resources attached to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Thammanat seemed to constantly focus more on the agriculture & cooperatives portfolio than all others and apparently take pride in his having previously run it over the last several years whilst Suriya looked virtually out of place in the eye of those in its bureaucratic circle.
Nonetheless, the de facto Klatham boss might probably afford to leave his preferable portfolio to his brother/former deputy agriculture & cooperatives minister Akara Prompao as a result of the speculated cabinet reshuffle no matter if the Pheu Thai under de facto party boss/former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will yet remain as the second largest coalition partner with his own camp being the third largest.
Among the Pheu Thai members of cabinet more or less speculated to be transferred to another portfolio, if not simply reshuffled out, would almost certainly include the current agriculture & cooperatives minister, who is one of the duo leaders of Sammit faction of MPs among the rank and file of Thaksin’s camp. Suriya used to take charge of the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Industry.
Though Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul would be more than willing to see the Klatham return to the executive branch after the People’s-led opposition bloc had kicked Thammanat’s camp out, Newin will remain ultimately decisive in power play with cabinet reshuffle moves no matter if Thaksin’s camp could possibly stay in government or be replaced by Thammanat’s camp for whatever conceivable reasons.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: De facto Bhumjaithai boss Newin Chidchob, left, and de facto Klatham boss/leader Thammanat Prompao, right. Photo – Amarin TV
Insert: Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit. Photo – PPTVHD36
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