House Speaker Chai Chidchob yesterday raised eyebrows by calling a tripartite meeting of whips to discuss deliberations on charter amendments tomorrow though the motion is not urgent, a source said.
The government whip from the Democrat Party opposed the move by Chai arguing the motion tabled by the five junior coalition parties was not urgent and the House has other important issues on its agenda.
Chai argued that it was his duty to place the motion on the House agenda after receiving it within seven days, citing House directives.
The whips reportedly could not find reasons to reject Chai's demand and let him put the motion to be deliberated by the House tomorrow.
Senate whip Naruemol Siriwat said the Senate had other urgent agenda to deliberate, especially the impeachment proceeding against former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.
"I suggested that the charter rewrite motion be deliberated in March because the public may think this is a political game of the coalition parties. However, as it was the meeting decision, I had to accept it,'' she said.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has decided to change the date of the economic ministers' meetings from Wednesday to Monday to prevent a lack of House quorum that has happened more often recently, causing House meetings to be adjourned.
PM's Office Minister Satit Wongnongtaey commented about House meetings being adjourned due to a lack of quorum, saying the government whips have been asking all MPs from the coalition parties to strictly attend the meeting. To enable more ministers to attend, Abisit decided to change the day of the meeting from Wednesday to Monday, beginning February 22.
