Party MPs isolate Suwit

Of the 24 MPs, 20 said they wanted to retain the four seats allocated to them under the ministerial quota system in the new Cabinet line-up.

Information and Communications Technology Minister Mun Patanotai, a Puea Pandin deputy leader, said Suwit had made a personal decision to pull out of the coalition. It was not a party resolution.

"No one knew about it. Suwit made the decision only on the evening of Tuesday. He cannot be contacted,'' he said.

Mun said he talked to the party financiers and party leaders and co-ordinated with 20 MPs and they insisted the party continue as a coalition partner.

He insisted the party was still in the government because Samak had accepted the list of four ministers under Puea Pandin to be nominated for the new Cabinet line-up. Three of the current ministers would be reshuffled. He believed he would keep his post as the ICT minster.

He said Suwit was still the party leader but after the Cabinet reshuffle, the party will ask Suwit to call an executive board meeting and if he refused, one forth of the party executive board could do it.

"There is not a cobra in our party. It is normal that every party has financiers and our party has many of them. So any changes need to be consulted with them,'' he said.

Another Puea Pandin deputy leader, Pan Pungsucharit, said he was confident the resignation of two Puea Pandin MPs would not affect the party citing that MPs would lose their status if they quit a party.

On his way to Khon Kaen, Suwit defended his decision insisting he decided on the basis that it was right to uphold the country's interest. He said according to party resolutions, the leader had the right to make the decision on behalf of its members and he did not have to heed the party resolution.

He will clarify his decision with the party on Tuesday and he was ready to open the way for the selection of the new party leader. "I want to see new politics that has no interest. I am not attached to my position,'' he said.

Wae Mahadee Waedaoh, a Puea Pandin Narathiwat MP, said he supported Suwit's decision because he felt party members were interested only in bargaining for positions and their self interest and not the problems facing the country, including the violence in the South, even though it was one of the conditions the party set to join the coalition.

He urged party MPs to accept Suwit's decision and insisted that if he could not solve the problems in the South, he was ready to be in opposition but would not join the Democrats.

Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban said he believed the Puea Pandin pull out would not affect the government's stability because the government continue to have a strong majority and some Puea Pandin MPs still supported the government.

He refused to analyse what was behind the move, but offered a comment that Suwit's status in the party was similar to Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's status in the People Power Party. "Suwit does not have supporters in the party and he is not the real party owner,'' he said.

Chart Thai Party deputy leader Nikorn Chamnong said the party would reach the decision about its stance within two days. He said although Chart Thai had signed a pact with Puea Pandin to stick together on whether to pull out from the government, the criteria cited by Suwit were not among the five conditions set in the pact.

Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart, Chart Thai's chief advisor, said his party's stance remained unchanged. He said there were no solid reasons for the party to withdraw its support from the government. "Making such an abrupt decision is not good political etiquette,'' he said.