PM denies Hun Sen link, recounts day he was ousted from Interior

The second day of parliamentary debate on the policy statement of Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s government on Tuesday (September 30) turned heated after Jiraporn Sinthuprai, a Pheu Thai MP for Roi Et, launched a sharp attack on the new administration.

She questioned the power shift from Pheu Thai to Bhumjaithai, noting that it appeared to echo remarks previously made by Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, who had predicted that Thailand would see a change of prime minister within three months. She also criticised the political agreement between Bhumjaithai and the People’s Party, particularly the pledge to hold a referendum for a new constitution, pointing out that the commitment was mentioned in the government’s policy statement in only a few lines.

Anutin hits back: no secret deals, no personal ties with Cambodian leaders

Anutin immediately rose to respond, stressing that when Jiraporn speaks the truth, she appears credible; but when she speaks falsely, she loses confidence. He insisted he had no personal relationship with Cambodian leaders, stating that his first encounter with them was during former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s official visit to Phnom Penh in April. He rejected any suggestion of backroom deals.

“When I returned from accompanying Paetongtarn to Cambodia, friends of mine told me over the phone, ‘Do you know why you were not allowed into several meetings? Because Cambodian officials had already told their leader not to talk much with you, since you would soon be removed as interior minister.’ But I didn’t take it to heart, because the only information I could trust had to come from my own prime minister at that time. In the end, I was officially informed on June 17,” Anutin told the chamber.

Anutin went on to explain that he was formally informed by Pheu Thai leaders that the party wanted the Interior Ministry back, and that he should instead take the post of public health minister. He said he immediately understood this as an indirect way of pushing him out of the government.

“I told them, if you really want me out, just say it straight. Don’t dress it up as an offer. The former prime minister was polite and said they still wanted me in the cabinet, but not at Interior. So I asked, Why Public Health? What had I done wrong? I was the only minister in Paetongtarn’s cabinet who stood by her through good and bad days, defending her with facts,” Anutin told parliament.

He added that the former prime minister admitted the reason was electoral strategy. “She told me that with an election approaching, Pheu Thai needed the Interior Ministry. I asked why they believed holding the Interior would secure victory. Ten years ago, my father held Interior, yet we still lost decisively to Pheu Thai. There was no answer, only the insistence that they had to take Interior back. But I believe Paetongtarn was not speaking her own mind; someone else had told her to say it. In the end, her secretary-general confirmed to me that the last card on the table was that I must go to Public Health,” he said.

At that point, MP Jiraporn rose to object, saying the prime minister was dramatising events involving people not present in the chamber, who could not clarify whether the account was true.

Anutin fired back: “Don’t say this is drama; these are facts. I was there and I can vouch for it right here. You were not there, you were not involved, so how can you call it drama?”

Anutin reaffirms pledge to dissolve parliament

Anutin told the chamber that once Bhumjaithai withdrew from the Pheu Thai-led government, he reported for duty with the opposition and discussed the need to push for a House dissolution as the best solution. When former prime minister Paetongtarn was suspended from duty, he said, a political way forward had to be found to return power to the people.

“This was the origin of the political agreement between Bhumjaithai and the People’s Party. It was not a government deal, but as the leading party in government, Bhumjaithai will honour the commitment: the House will be dissolved no later than January 31 2026,” Anutin said.

Denies interfering in Khao Kradong land case

Responding to criticism over the Khao Kradong land dispute, Anutin insisted he had never interfered.

“Why blame me? The ones who pressured officials were former Pheu Thai interior ministers. I have been the prime minister for almost a month now and have not issued a single order. There’s no need, I’ve been in office for two years already, and I know we must act within the law. I saw the news that the governor of the State Railway of Thailand is pursuing lawsuits plot by plot, which is exactly what I want. Where the land is legal, justice will be restored; where it is illegal, it will be seized. I will never use my authority as interior minister or as prime minister to help anyone break the law. Even you cannot help them; how could I?” he declared.

Anutin also called on Pheu Thai MP Jiraporn Sinthuprai to withdraw her statement accusing him of being a suspect in a Senate Collusion Election case.

“I am not an accused or a suspect in the DSI’s case. Bring the DSI director-general here and ask directly if I am a suspect. I have only been informed of allegations, and I have hired lawyers to fight the case. To say that the senators and I are suspects is incorrect. From what I have seen, not a single senator has been named as a suspect,” he said.