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"The government has no policy to disperse the crowds and will reschedule the policy debate if necessary," he said.

Suthep said the two-day parliamentary debate may be extended for an extra day.

The government was not concerned about the opposition's threat to grill Cabinet members, such as the prime minister, the Defence and Foreign ministers because they could all defend themselves, he said.

Claims that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was a draft dodger were old and something the authorities cleared up a long time ago, he said.

"Abhisit used to be a lecturer at the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy and this should be self-explanatory in that he wasn't a draft dodger," Suthep said.

He dismissed speculation that Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan had engineered military support to tip the balance of power to favour the Democrat Party.

He said Prawit was a retired officer who the Democrats decided to invite to join the government after the coalition alliance had been formed.

He said Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya made remarks about the seizure of Bangkok's airports before taking office, hence there was no grounds on which to hold him accountable.

Meanwhile, Deputy Interior Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat said yesterday he had orderd his subordinates to closely monitor organisers of the red-shirt mobs.

Boonjong said he wanted an update on the rally preparations every six hours. The monitoring was meant to help keep the peace not intervene or block protesters gathering, he said.

He said rally organisers were trying to mobilise crowds from upcountry to travel to Bangkok.

In a related development, Deputy Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanit said 64 senators had lined up for the policy debate although the time allotted for them was just eight hours.

Nikom called for an extension of the debate, as under the present allotment each senator would have less than 15 minutes to speak.