PM-Prawit lunch quells 'rift' rumours

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Interior Minister Gen Anupong Paojinda (right) joke with Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon after an Isoc meeting on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Interior Minister Gen Anupong Paojinda (right) joke with Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon after an Isoc meeting on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had lunch with Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon on Wednesday in what is seen as a move to quell rumours of a conflict between them.

The pair ate at the Five Provinces Bordering Forest Preservation Foundation on Phahon Yothin Road after attending a meeting of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) at the Army Club on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road. Also present at the lunch was Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda.

The conflict relates to a controversy surrounding Capt Thamanat Prompow. Prawit, as leader of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), stepped in earlier to resolve this by ensuring Thamanat stayed on as the party's secretary-general.

Thamanat was sacked from the post of deputy agriculture minister for allegedly engineering a plot to oust the prime minister.

Prayut said Isoc is not a political unit but a body supporting other agencies' efforts to solve problems in the country.

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Vocabulary

  • allegedly: claimed to have done something wrong, but not yet proven - ที่กล่าวหา
  • conflict: an angry disagreement between people or groups - ความขัดแย้ง
  • controversy: a disagreement that a lot of people have strong feelings about - ความขัดแย้ง
  • engineer: to arrange for something to happen, especially in a useful and skilful way - วางแผน
  • ensure: to make certain that something happens or is done - ให้การยืนยัน, รับรอง, ให้ความมั่นใจ
  • interior minister: the minister with responsibility over the Royal Thai Police, local administrations, internal security, citizenship, disaster management, land management, issuing national identity cards and public works - รัฐมนตรีว่าการกระทรวงมหาดไทย
  • oust: to force to leave a position of power - ขับออกจากอำนาจ
  • plot: a secret plan to do something bad - แผนการลับ
  • quell: to get rid of unpleasant thoughts or feelings, or to prevent them from becoming stronger - ปลอบ (อารมณ์, ความวิตกกังวล)
  • resolve: to solve a problem, or to find a satisfactory way of dealing with it - แก้ไขปัญหา
  • rift: a serious disagreement between two people or groups - ความแตกร้าว
  • sack: to remove someone from a job; to fire - ปลดออกจากตำแหน่ง
  • secretary-general (noun): the person who is in charge of the department that deals with the running of a large international or political organisation - เลขาธิการ, เลขาธิการใหญ่
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