In the frontline for the party and government

He rose to the prominent post under PM Somchai Wongsawat, the brother-in-law of Thaksin, after spending two years fighting against leaders of the September 2006 coup.

"I was jailed for 12 days along with eight other anti-coup figures, including Veera Musikapong and Jatuporn Prompan [during the tenure of interim PM General Surayud Chulanont].

"We were tricked into being arrested and were put in jail following our attacks on General Prem Tinnasulanonda, president of the Privy Council, and a rally in front of his Si Sao residence on July 22, 2007," he said.

Nattawut, who holds a master's degree in public and private management from the National Institute of Development Administration, was also instrumental in setting up a pro-Thaksin group nearly two years ago.

Today members of this group call themselves the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship and wear red shirts as a symbol of their fight against the anti-Thaksin movement, which wears yellow shirts.

On November 1 about 50,000 people in red shirts gathered at Bangkok's Rajamangala Stadium to listen to the exiled and convicted Thaksin, who phoned in live from Hong Kong to rally popular support for an amnesty for himself.

In the meantime members of the anti-Thaksin camp, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) still occupy Government House, the official seat of power, forcing the Somchai government to set up temporary offices at Don Mueang Airport.

Given his stalwart performance in support of former premier Thaksin following the 2006 coup, Nattawut got ahead in his political career relatively quickly, even though he never won a House seat in three previous elections.

"My constituency in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat is very tough to win. The opposition Democrat Party has controlled it for a long time. I came second in the last election," he said.

Nattawut often tells his supporters that the big difference between the Democrats and Thaksin, or his "nominees", is that the latter focus on tangible benefits for voters whereas the former are good only in terms of rhetoric.

"We're still popular because of the Bt30 universal healthcare scheme, the village funds, Otop and other projects [launched by Thaksin]," said Nattuwut, an eloquent speaker himself.

When asked about good governance and ethical behaviour in the highest office in the land, Nattawut would not respond directly.

"I guess it's hard to measure ethical standards in politics. Even though the court has convicted Thaksin [in the conflict-of-interest case involving the purchase of state land], we should also remember that the judicial process in which the ex-premier was tried wasn't really democratic, because it started following the coup," he said.

Asked how the political rift would likely end, Nattawut said: "I have no idea, but I share the opinion that there could be a disbanding of the ruling People Power Party and a dissolution of the House.

"We could come back with possibly even more House seats under the new party, called Puea Thai, and form the government again, because the majority of voters, especially in the North and Northeast, are still with us.

"Then there are two big 'what if's' in this analysis. The first is whether there will be another coup, and the second is about the PAD's strength and future prospects."