Thammanat still on PPRP’s minister shortlist: Source

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thammanat Prompow is still on the list of candidates for four ministerial posts under the quota of Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) in the new cabinet of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a high-ranking source said on Monday.

The source’s confirmation came after PPRP leader General Prawit Wongsuwan said in an interview on Monday that his party will remain in the coalition, but there would be changes in the ministerial positions.

Prawit said Thammanat, who serves as PPRP’s secretary general, will lose his seat in the new cabinet, because “the (Pheu Thai-led) government didn’t want him.”

It is speculated that Pheu Thai wanted to avoid legal complications that could stem from Thammanat’s past conviction in an Australian drug case in 1993, when he was imprisoned for four years in Sydney and then deported.

Prawit added that Deputy Public Health Minister Santi Promphat would take Thammanat’s place as Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister. Phatcharavat Wongsuwan, meanwhile, will remain in his current position as Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.

The high-ranking source said that after the interview, Thammanat contacted Prawit to negotiate the issue, which resulted in the party agreeing to put him back on the list as a candidate for Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister, to be submitted to Pheu Thai Party for consideration.

On Monday night, PPRP’s MP Pai Leeke posted on facebook that he and other PPRP MPs will continue to support Thammanat in the new cabinet.

The Pheu Thai Party source confirmed on Monday that a new list of Cabinet ministers will be submitted to the Cabinet Secretariat and Council of State for review on Tuesday.