Gen Panlop Pinmanee, a security adviser to the prime minister, says he plans to bring former premier Thaksin Shinawatra back to Thailand this year.
Thaksin will return on a private jet and arrive at Suvarnabhumi airport where his supporters will be waiting to welcome him home, Gen Panlop said.
The issue of Thaksin returning to Thailand resurfaced over the weekend after Thaksin told his supporters via a phone-in that he would come back soon in style.
He was responding to claims by Udon Thani red shirt leader Kwanchai Praipana that he would return via the border in Laos after the Songkran festival.
Thaksin denied he intended returning to the country that way, but gave no further details of his plans.
Gen Panlop said he proposed collecting 20,000 signatures to submit an amnesty bill to parliament, as one way to bring Thaksin back if the national reconciliation proposal by the King Prajadhipok's Institute does not result in an amnesty for the exiled politician.
He said the Pheu Thai Party promised an amnesty bill allowing Thaksin to come back, during the election campaign in Buri Ram last year, and the pledge must be fulfilled. Gen Panlop was confident the bill would pass parliament.
He and Thaksin had discussed the amnesty push, and he agreed with the idea. Gen Panlop said he would meet Thaksin in Laos and Cambodia to discuss the matter again.
Thaksin plans trips to the neighbouring countries during the Songkran festival from April 12 to 15.
Parnthep Pourpongpan, spokesman of the People's Alliance for Democracy, said the group would resume street protests to oppose any efforts to bring back Thaksin. If Pheu Thai's move to rewrite the charter and propose an amnesty bill for Thaksin succeed in parliament, unrest will ensue, he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa yesterday dismissed as groundless Gen Panlop's claims that some military figures are still plotting to stage another coup.
Gen Yutthasak, who is in charge of security affairs, was referring to a remark by Gen Panlop that some members of the military were still thinking about forming another council for national security, similar to the one that toppled the Thaksin government on Sept 19, 2006, to stage another coup.
He said he did not see any reason why this would happen.
Gen Yutthasak said military commanders had given full cooperation and support to the government and he could not see that changing.
No problems had arisen with the mid-year military reshuffle, or about the armed forces' budget requests.
The government and the military had agreed they would stay in close consultation with each other on important matters such as the insurgency in the South, Gen Yutthasak said.
Asked whether the ongoing attempts to bring Thaksin back to the country could lead to a coup, Gen Yutthasak said the military had not discussed the matter.
Pol Maj-Gen Thawat Boonfueng, the prime minister's acting secretary-general, yesterday denied a report that core members of Class 10 of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School planned to bring Thaksin home via Chiang Mai airport.
Pol Maj-Gen Thawat, also a former cadet of Class 10 and classmate of Thaksin, said he and other Class 10 members were stunned by Gen Panlop's claim about another coup and their plan to bring Thaksin home via Chiang Mai.
"I can give an assurance that no former members of Class 10, whether in the military or police force, have ever discussed this matter.
"I think Thaksin knows well that in this situation, conflict still exists and reconciliation is still far away.
"I think it's unlikely Thaksin will return to the country this year," Pol Maj-Gen Thawat said.