Govt gets the blame

PM Samak Sundaravej rejects these claims, made during the second day of the debate on the 2009 budget. The debate ends at midnight, and the bill is expected to pass with a large majority.

The government is seeking to appropriate Bt1.8 trillion for fiscal 2009, which starts in October. The deficit will be almost Bt250 billion.

Phuket Democrat Jurit Laksanawisit says the government is slow in responding to soaring oil prices.

Its poor handling of state-controlled energy company PTT has seen an inadequate number of service stations selling LPG, he says.

Jurit asserts the government should have used PPT's 2007 windfall profits of Bt97 billion to lessen the burden of the high cost of energy on consumers. He says there's too little spending allocated for the promotion of alternative fuels.

Samak says PTT is a listed company and subject to the rules of the stock market.

"I am not one to appease people. I care about the business of PTT," says Samak. He says the company is not to blame for too few stations selling LPG, resulting in a shortage.

Shortage

Samak says it's the fault of motorists, and taxi-drivers in particular. They were slow in the past to modify their vehicles, and now petrol prices have escalated they have rushed to do so, resulting in a shortage of tanks and parts, he says.

Populist polices were on Jurit's radar, too. He attacks the government for using size as a funding measure in the small, medium and large village programme.

He questions farm-debt suspension, too.

The National Economic and Social Advisory Council has advised this government to end such policies, introduced by the Thaksin Shinawatra administration, Jurit says.

They are of little benefit and only increase farm debt while making others rich, he adds.

Both government and opposition MPs are worried the state's not spending enough on irrigation and that this will have a knock-on effect on farm production.