Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont believes General Sonthi Boonyaratglin will never dump him.

"He has no thought of removing me," Surayud said yesterday morning. "I'd told him to just tell me if he was unhappy with me and I would go. There's no need to sack me."

He told the government's weekly talk show on Channel 11 that he was still on good terms with the chairman of the Council for National Security.

In recent weeks, some interest groups have been campaigning

for Surayud to quit, claiming that he had cheated the whole nation

by striking a "secret deal" with deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra in exchange for freeing Thaksin's family from all graft charges.

To save the face of the general he installed as premier, Sonthi purportedly would not fire him. However, he has apparently been sending a clear message through his nominees to pressure Surayud to step down.

More than 50 members of the Assembly of Isaan People last week met with Sonthi to appeal for him to dismiss Surayud.

In an uncommon way of receiving visitors, Sonthi opened a meeting room in the Army headquarters to welcome the group and then promised he would consider its request. In yesterday's TV programme, Surayud downplayed last week's incident. "He told me he was tricked. So, what can I say?"

He also dismissed speculation of a fresh coup to oust him for supposedly compromising with Thaksin.

"I have no authority to punish the deposed government," he insisted. "My job is to pass the cases to the courts."