Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was using three reconciliation strategies to ensure his return to Thailand, Green Group coordinator Suriyasai Katasila said on Sunday.
Mr Suriyasia also said that even though some red shirt leaders were unhappy about the recent meeting between Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda, his view was that it was simply colour politics.
He singled out red shirt core member Shinawat Haboonpad, who had strongly declared some members of the movement were against the Prem meeting, but now is silent on the issue.
It should be noted that red shirt key figures who had extensively attacked the "amataya (elite) regime" have chosen now to keep quiet. This ,therefore, reflected the belief that UDD leaders were only using political issues to encourage their supporters to rally and suffer for them and their personal interests.
The former key member of the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) said red shirt political comments seen by some academics as a people’s force to build democracy and justice is invalid. This was because Thaksin was still playing puppeteer and maintaining absolute power over them.
“Given the current atmosphere of reconciliation, I believe Pol Lt Col Thaksin will make a quick move in advancing his cause by using three strategies including holding secret talks with influential figures in society, enacting an amnesty bill and maintaining his red shirt army to control negotiating power,” Mr Surayasai said.
“He will either get it by trickery or ruse so that he can return home at the earliest. He can’t wait anymore because the popularity of his sister’s government is going downhill.”