Veteran politician says he has no hard feelings after collapse of talks to join Move Forward coalition
Veteran politician Suwat Liptapanlop says he has no hard feelings after talks for his Chartpattanakla Party to join the Move Forward coalition fell through.
The chairman of the two-member party spoke with reporters at its head office in Nakhon Ratchasima on Saturday to give his side of the story about the aborted deal with the Move Forward Party (MFP).
“The Move Forward Party invited Chartpattanakla to join its alliance to form a coalition government,” he said. “Our party agreed in principle to support the party that had gained the most House seats to successfully form the government.
MFP subsequently invited executives of Chartpattanakla to attend a meeting on Monday at which details of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) among the coalition partners were to be announced.
But not long after word got out, social media lit up with criticism of Move Forward. Specifically, netizens were angry that such a deal would bring Korn Chatikvanij into the coalition. Mr Korn, the Chartpattanakla leader and a former Democrat Party heavyweight, supported the Bangkok Shutdown protests that ultimately led to the May 2014 coup.
Move Forward executives withdrew the invitation and apologised to their supporters and the public, and also to Chartpattanakla. Still smarting on Saturday, they announced that they would not be holding any press events for the day and would communicate only via social media.
Mr Suwat brushed off the furore.
“As the MFP had announced it was ending the talks and formally notified us of its decision, Chartpattanakla has no problem,” he said.
Also attending Saturday’s press conference were Prasart Tanprasert, a potential Nakhon Sawan MP; Dr Wannarat Charnnukul, a potential party-list MP; and party secretary-general Tewan Liptapanlop.
Mr Suwat thanked Move Forward for extending the initial invitation. He said he and his party were not upset over the outcome and were still on good terms with the MFP.