The leaders of the opposition Pheu Thai party has come out to deny rumours that the party could join the ruling Palang Pracharath government in a national unity government.
With Palang Pracharath undergoing a leadership contest and the party disjointed, political rumours suggested that the ruling party’s new leadership would be reaching out to the biggest opposition party to join forces.
Pheu Thai leader Sompong Amornwiwat, in a Facebook post on Wednesday, denied those rumours.
“I think the rumours were meant to discredit the Pheu Thai Party,” Sompong said in the post. “It was created by parties in the ruling coalition who are looking to capitalize on the situation.”
Sources close to Thaksin Shinawatra say that the former prime minister has also said it would be impossible for the Pheu Thai party to join with the ruling coalition.
“There is no way we can join this government or Palang Pracharath, if we do that we would not be able to face our voters in the next election,” the source quotes him as saying.
Government and opposition in disarray
Members of the Palang Pracharath Party have said this week that the resignation of the executive committee and the party’s internal leadership contest could see a shakeup of the cabinet.
Deputy leader Paibul Nititawan told Thai Enquirer said that he was not ruling out changes in the coalition or the cabinet. Palang Pracharath MP Somsak Thepsutin said that a cabinet reshuffle was not out of the question after the leadership election.
But despite being in complete disarray, the ruling party is unlikely to be challenged by the opposition parties.
Pheu Thai has seen an internal struggle of sorts after longtime stalwart Chaturon Chaisaeng and several party insiders said they were leaving to start a new party.
The progressive Move Forward Party has yet to regain any sort of momentum after the dissolution of its predecessor Future Forward Party with new party leader Pita Limjaroenrat out of parliament due to back surgery.
“If the opposition was in a better place, then this would be the perfect opportunity to challenge the government on key issues,” said analyst Arun Saronchai. “I mean what kind of ruling party has major internal bickering while the country is in deep crisis? Their response has also been far from perfect.
“It is only because the opposition themselves are not very organized that Palang Pracharath will emerge from this unscathed.”
