Who would have thought that sandbags used to prevent floods could be redeployed as a political weapon by both the Pheu Thai and Democrat parties?
Pheu Thai’s Prompong Nopparit and Jirayu Huangsap help lift sandbags from a sewer on Srinakarin Road as part of their inspection of City Hall’s dredging work. KOSOL NAKACHOL
The blame game began in early October when about 100 sandbags, concrete slabs, plastic bottles and rocks were found in sewerage lines in Min Buri and Chatuchak districts.
The debris was found during a dredging project by the Corrections Department and the Metropolitan Police Bureau.
Deputy government spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard demanded an explanation from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) while Democrat deputy spokesman Nat Bantadtan claimed someone was trying to discredit City Hall, which is controlled by the Democrats.
The row grew even more heated when Pheu Thai Party's spokesman Prompong Nopparit and his deputy Jirayu Huangsap helped workers remove several sandbags from a sewer on Srinakarin Road as part of their inspection of the BMA's dredging work.
They said whoever had placed the sandbags was trying to block the flow of water and obstruct the government's flood prevention plan.
The Democrat Party threatened legal action against Mr Prompong and Mr Jirayu for interfering in the work of government officials.
Plodprasop Suraswadi, head of the government's Water and Flood Management Commission, joined the fray.
He said the BMA's decision to place sandbags in the city's drains was ''the worst technique ever'', and ordered the sandbags removed within 15 days. Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra refused.
At first, Pheu Thai appeared to gain the upper hand when it was able to corner the Democrat Party over the issue.
However, City Hall managed to turn the tables on Pheu Thai when it was able to convince the government that the practice of placing sandbags in city drains was in fact a standard flood control technique known as the polder system, which is in accepted use worldwide.
After a brief meeting with MR Sukhumbhand, Mr Plodprasop appeared content with City Hall's explanation as to why it deployed the technique.
Tomorrow: A humorous look at Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's style choices.