No plan to reshuffle Cabinet, says Prayut
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on Thursday ruled out any reshuffle of the Cabinet and said that “everything will remain the same”.
He was speaking after attending a no-confidence debate against the government in Parliament, which started on August 31 and ends on Saturday.
Reacting to an accusation by Pheu Thai MP from Chiang Rai Wisan Techatheerawat that the prime minister had paid THB5 million each to Pheu Thai MPs to vote for him during the debate, Prayut laughed and said he could not do that as there were cameras everywhere in Parliament.
When asked by the media about his current relations with Deputy Agriculture Minister Thammanat Prompao, Prayut said he had not met Thammanat recently and that it was the duty of Phalang Pracharat leader General Prawit Wongsuwan to handle the situation.
Before the no-confidence debate, there was a rumour that Thammanat and three other Phalang Pracharat MPs had asked Prawit, who is also a Deputy PM, to replace Prayut as prime minister. They also reportedly proposed a Cabinet reshuffle after the debate so that Thammanat could be in charge of a bigger ministry. Thammanat later refuted the rumour and blamed another deputy minister for the campaign.