Lots of people, especially those in the medium-sized and small parties, were getting personal calls from Thaksin Shinnawatr yesterday -- and today. That's rare. It used to be quite difficult to get a direct line with the former prime minister. You had to go through a few "personal contacts" before you could say "Hello" to him.
But since the Democrat Party managed to recruit quite a number of MPs from Thaksin's former coalition partners and held a surprise press conference on Saturday, Thaksin suddenly became a very humble man. He was supposed to have offered the premiership to Maj Gen Sanan Kachornprasart, deputy leaders of the disbanded Chat Thai Party, although it's a small party with about 15 MPs left.
Sanan ignored the generous offer and went ahead to join Democrat Secretary General Suthep Thuaksuban in the press conference.
Then, Thaksin floated another offer: Any party joining his new Peau Thai Party will be given a Cabinet seat for every five MPs. That's incredible because if that's the formula, the Cabinet will be many times the size of the legal 35.
In other words, Thaksin is ready to do anything just to make sure that his party remains in power.
The once unquestionably most powerful politician in the country is now begging every possible MP to "Please don't leave me....I need your help."
For many an MP, the ability to say: "Sorry, sir, but I have to follow my conscience" to Thaksin is massively satisfying indeed.
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