Abhisit fires big parting shot
Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said late Sunday night Justice Minister Pracha Promnok failed on major accounts including management ability, honesty and public relations.
The opposition leader also spent the last minutes of the censure debate to raise the controversial issue of alleged pardon for Thaksin Shinawatra.
The brief mention of the pardon affair capped a tumultuous day in which both political camps accused each other of politicising the flood crisis for political gains.
Abhisit confirmed media reports that the government was plotting a plan to bring Thaksin home, only to back out in the last minute because of a public uproar.
Abhisit accused the government of turning the flood disaster, which is a national crisis, into something that aggravated political divide among the Thai people.
He said that Pracha, as head of the government's flood relief centre could not escape responsibility. The opposition leader insisted Pracha knowingly violated the law and used nepotism instead of experts' knowledge to cope with Thailand's worst flood disaster. There were corruption, miscommunications and nepotism that worsened the country's ordeals, Abhisit said.
It was a showdown between Democrat leader Abhisit and Justice Minister Pracha late Sunday night. The latter triggered Abhisit's sharp response after accusing the Democrat government of allowing major dams to be filled up after Abhisit dissolved the House of Representatives in May.
Showing video clips and graphics, Pracha alleged that dams' situations when the House was dissolved this year were similar to last year and the year before last. "Why different approach of water
management?" Pracha asked Abhisit.
In other words, Pracha alleged that the Democrat government knew it was going to lose the July 3
election and knew about coming storms, so it let the dams be filled up to sabotage the Yingluck
administration.
In his rebuttal, Abhisit said that when the Yingluck Cabinet was in place in early August, the key dams were still at very manageable levels. "If you want to complain, go complain with your prime minister, who made you head of the Froc at a time you thought nothing could ever be done about the waters," Abhisit said.
In his closing statement, Abhisit said the opposition could no longer trust Pracha to keep on as justice minister. "If the prime minister still has confidence in him, whatever happens in the future, she must take responsibility," Abhisit said.
