- The Nation/ANN
BANGKOK: Paetongtarn says the party has no policy of expelling errant MPs, adding that veteran politician had expressed plans to leave anyway.
Pheu Thai Party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra said that though she has removed veteran politician and party MP Chalerm Yubamrung from the party’s Line group, she will not remove him from the party.
She announced her action against Chalerm on Thursday (July 25), one day after he held a press conference at his home in Bangkok’s Bang Bon district challenging the party to expel him.
He also told the press that there was now no love lost between him and Paetongtarn’s father, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
“I was the one who removed Chalerm from the Line group of Pheu Thai MPs,” Paetongtarn said, adding that information shared on this group was quite sensitive.
She said she uses the Line group to send schedules for the party MPs and other pertinent information.
Paetongtarn added that after learning about the press conference Chalerm called, she was worried that other Pheu Thai MPs would feel uneasy if he remained in the group.
Also, she said, Chalerm had said on the group earlier that he wanted to switch parties, adding that she did not inform or speak to him before removing him from the group.
Ties between Paetongtarn and the Yubamrung family began deteriorating after she summoned Chalerm’s son, Wan Yubamrung to officially reprimand him for showing support to a rival candidate at the Pathum Thani CEO election last month.
Last week, Wan resigned from the party, and on Tuesday, he held a press conference with Palang Pracharath Party leader General Prawit Wongsuwan, saying he had joined his party.
On Wednesday, Chalerm called a press conference at his home and said he too had visited Khamronwit Thupkrajang, the rival of Pheu Thai’s Pathum Thani CEO candidate, Charn Puangphet.
He said he was at Khamronwit’s home after the polling stations closed, so Pheu Thai should expel him as well.
He also said that he and Khamronwit were close friends and he had helped him at the Pathum Thani CEO election before this one, but the party did not take any action then.
“Please expel me immediately as people are now fed up with this sort of news,” he said.
Chalerm went on to say that when Pheu Thai learned of his son visiting Khamronwit on the election day (June 30), some core members turned against him and there was so much strife that Paetongtarn personally asked him to mediate.
Despite this, he said, Paetongtarn still summoned Wan to the party headquarters to reprimand him because some core members were still dissatisfied.
This prompted Wan to leave the party, he said.
Chalerm also challenged Thaksin to hold an open debate with him over who owes who a debt of gratitude in politics.
Meanwhile, Paetongtarn said she had only just learned that Chalerm was also at Khamronwit’s home on June 30, adding that she had never asked his son to leave the party.
As for Chalerm’s challenge for her to expel him, she said the party had no policy of expelling MPs.
She added that she would not visit Chalerm at his home and if he wishes to speak to her, he can meet her at the party HQ in front of the party’s secretary-general and director.
“It will have to be done professionally,” she said.
As for Chalerm challenging Thaksin for a debate, she said he should inform her father personally. - The Nation/ANN
