Democrats blocking reconciliation: Natthawut
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The Democrats are allowing their obsession with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to cloud their judgement on national reconciliation, Deputy Agriculture Minister Natthawut Saikua said on Thursday.
“The Democrats are not sincere in pushing for reconciliation because of their desire to take revenge on Thaksin,” he said.
Natthawut said the Democrats were trying to derail the reconciliation process by opposing both the King Prajadhipok’s Institute report on reconciliation measures and the House committee chaired by Sonthi Boonyaratglin.
Although the reconciliation push was about helping the country to move forward, the Democrats wanted to mislead the public into believing it was a pretext to rescue Thaksin, he said.
The political turbulence in the past six years had benefited the Democrats, he said in his reasoning as to why the main opposition party continued to fan the conflict.
He said the Democrats had gone overboard to portray Thaksin as a political monster.
“I think it is time to put Thailand before the bickering over Thaksin-related issues,” he said.
Commenting on the upcoming House debate on reconciliation, he said the debate, scheduled for April 4, would explore ways to mend fences and not rush to grant the Thaksin amnesty as alleged.
