'No Thaksin role' in Cabinet reshuffle
Play
Meeting between MPs and ex-PM 'routine', all moves up to Yingluck, says Noppadon
Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra would have no role in any Cabinet reshuffle, his legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said.
“Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has sole jurisdiction over the line-up in her cabinet,” he said.
Noppadon insisted Thaksin had never indicated to anyone that he would be involved in green-lighting a Cabinet reshuffle after the New Year holiday.
Some Pheu Thai MPs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed to have heard Thaksin making remarks to that effect when they paid him a visit in Hong Kong last week.
Speculation on a possible Cabinet reshuffle would only cause confusion, Noppadon said.
Thaksin is confident in Yingluck’s leadership, and should a Cabinet reshuffle happen, the changes will reflect job performance rather than political rhetoric, he said.
Noppadon said the meeting between Thaksin and Pheu Thai MPs in Hong Kong was a routine matter and had no bearing on the Cabinet line-up. It was normal to seek Thaksin’s advice because of his vast experience, but MPs and ministers must follow policy directives given by Yingluck, he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Transport Minister Kittisakdi Hathasongkroh dismissed speculation about a rift between him and Transport Minister Sukampol Suwannathat.
Kittisakdi said he had no trouble working with Sukampol, although some Pheu Thai MPs might not be happy about being denied access to the minister. He said he did not object to Sukampol’s intervention to line up members of state-enterprise boards, adding that he would have a problem only if he could not work with those board members.
He refused to speculate about the Cabinet line-up, saying the issue would hinge on the main coalition party’s decision.
Should a problem arise in his ministry, he said he and Sukampol could work it out, and would not need to trouble either the prime minister or Thaksin to intervene.
Later, Sukampol held a press conference with his two deputies denying that he had any conflicts with either of them.
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said he was not worried about the possibility of a Cabinet reshuffle.
“I will stay [on the job] if I can and I will leave if I have to,” he said.
Chalerm said he had just returned from a visit to Beijing, and had not been following the reshuffle issue.
Democrat MP Thepthai Senpong said Yingluck should reshuffle her Cabinet without delay. The Cabinet line-up had been flawed from the start because several capable individuals responsible for drafting government policies failed to get ministerial appointments, he said.
He urged Yingluck to shore up confidence by conducting an immediate reshuffle, instead of buying time while waiting for the expiry of five-year political bans on 111 executives of the Thai Rak Thai party.
The barred executives have been tipped to join the government once they are eligible to resume holding political office in May.
