The internal conflict in the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) has been blamed for delaying the formation of the new government as it has highlighted the fierce competition among key party members to control the Energy Ministry.
The ministry has since been thrust into the spotlight as the public is curious to find out why it is so highly prized by party members.
The PPRP seemed on the verge of breaking up following the dispute over the allocation of cabinet seats, particularly the energy portfolio, which was eyed by the Sam Mitr faction.
At first, Sam Mitr's core leader Suriya Jungrungreangkit was tipped to take the energy minister post but PPRP secretary-general Sontirat Sontijirawong was later offered the role instead, leaving the Sam Mitr faction deeply disappointed.
As a result, Sam Mitr threatened to review its ties with the PPRP if the party failed to honour its agreement to allocate it the energy portfolio.
On Monday Sam Mitr demanded the ouster of Sontirat Sontijirawong from the job of PPRP secretary-general over the cabinet post allocation.
However, after a discussion, the group yesterday announced that it would stop complaining about cabinet posts, and instead respect Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's choices.
"The Sam Mitr group will not cause problems for the prime minister so he will have time to work for the country.
After communicating with senior figures yesterday, whatever positions the group now receives will up to the prime minister," Mr Suriya said.
However, analysts believe that the internal conflict has only been swept under the carpet and will re-emerge in the future.
A PPRP source said some business operators in the energy sector tried to lobby Gen Prayut through his close aide to prevent Mr Suriya from getting the energy portfolio.
The source said the operators feared that if Mr Suriya were in charge of the Energy Ministry, this might adversely affect their bidding for major projects and energy licences that were awarded to it by the current government.
As a result, the post was offered to Mr Sontirat, the source said.
However, after Sam Mitr threatened to review its position in the coalition, Mr Sontirat on Monday announced he would not accept the energy minister role in what was seen as a bid to defuse growing tensions in the party.
Another source who is a leading energy businessman said that while the Energy Ministry receives an annual budget allocation of no more than 3 billion baht, it has the authority to issue licences to private investors bidding for projects involving oil, gas and power plants worth almost hundreds of thousands of billions of baht.
Recently, the cabinet approved the revised national Power Development Plan (PDP) submitted by the National Energy Policy Committee.
Under the plan, power plants which will be built in the future will use mainly natural gas and solar energy. The energy minister will play a key role in implementing the PDP.
Therefore, the energy minister plays an important role and major energy business groups are keeping an eye on who will be the next energy minister. They want an energy minister with a good public image, who is free of vested interests in the energy sector, a source said.
Gen Prayut, however, appeared to calm down yesterday after he issued an apology to the public the day before over the internal conflict in the PPRP.
He said the internal problems of the PPRP had been resolved and his cabinet would be sworn in around the middle of the month.
"I have formed my cabinet. It is done.... Seats in the cabinet are the responsibility of the prime minister. It is the duty of the prime minister to work things out suitably," Gen Prayut said at Government House.
He said the formation of the cabinet had not been delayed and mid-July had been the time frame all along.
Gen Prayut said he had ordered the PPRP to resolve its issues and they were settled.
Everyone should comply with the party's resolutions," he said.
The problems within the party were only transitional issues, he said.
The prime minister refused to elaborate on his cabinet line-up.
Gen Prayut neither admitted nor denied speculation yesterday that he might take a concurrent position as defence minister.