Pheu Thai to drop 5 posts to alliance companions: cause
The president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Pichai Chunhavajira, is likely to rise as the next finance secretary in the next government change, in which Pheu Thai looks set to lose some cabinet articles to other coalition partners, a supply said on Thursday.
According to independent filings to the SET on Saturday, Mr. Pichai, 76, who is now serving as an assistant to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, resigned from his positions as the president of the SET, the electricity company Bangchak Corp, and the solar energy producer BCPG Plc.
At the Rosewood Hotel, a posh house owned by the Shinawatra community, Mr. Srettha and Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai met with paroled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the de facto leader of the Pheu Thai Party.
A source with knowledge of the meeting claimed they agreed to remove Mr. Pichai from their banking ministerial after journalists were prohibited from covering the meeting.
According to the cause, five Pheu Thai officials will probably lose their jobs in the upcoming government change, including Deputy Prime Minister Somsak Thepsutin, PM’s Office Minister Puangpet Chunlaiad, Deputy Foreign Minister Jakkapong Sangmanee, Public Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew, and Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chaiya Promma.
According to the cause, Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit is likely to take the position of deputy prime minister, while Mr. Jakkapong will be tasked with taking the place of PM’s Office secretary.
Pichit Chuenban, an assistant to the prime minister and Thaksin’s former prosecutor, will become the PM’s Office minister, while Paopoom Rojanasakul, minister to the finance secretary, will come as a deputy finance minister, said the source.
According to the cause, Mr. Somsak will likely take over as the public health minister, and Jiraporn Sindhuprai, the head of Pheu Thai, will take over as the new deputy crops and cooperatives minister.
According to the same source, Anan Phol-amnuay from the Palang Pracharath Party ( PPRP ) will also be given a deputy minister position in a ministry that has yet to be decided in addition to the anticipated changes to Pheu Thai’s quota in the cabinet.
Anutin Charnvirakul, the deputy prime minister and interior minister, announced in his power as the leader of the Bhumjaithai Party that he had asked Mr. Srettha to help all eight Bhumjaithai politicians now in the case to continue serving in their current capacities. He claimed the PM acknowledged this request.
Thai Sang Thai leader Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan expressed her support for the rumoured changes, saying Mr Srettha, as the prime minister, could n’t possibly have enough time to effectively oversee the nation’s financial policies, which form the core element of the government’s bid to revitalise the economy.
The veteran politician said regardless of who is appointed to the position, the new defence minister must continue to push for reforming the armed forces, even if the entire government chooses not to do so.
In her view, the PM should take up the defence minister’s post and shepherd the reform, as the party had promised to voters in the last general election, said Khunying Sudarat.
Former red-shirt movement leader Jatuporn Prompan said he feared the upcoming reshuffle would be minor, with only three changes to the current lineup.
Mr. Pichai and Ms. Jiraporn will be the candidates for two of the positions, and one will be a PPRP candidate.
” ]Defence Minister ] Sutin Klungsang, Dr Cholnan and all those names who it was rumoured will be axed from the current cabinet will actually stay on”, he said.
Mr Srettha, who might not have much time left as the government’s leader, would n’t make any radical changes to the cabinet as doing so might cause a backlash that he does n’t need, said the political pundit.