The cabinet on Tuesday backed a proposal to convene a special parliamentary session to discuss ways to defuse the ongoing political conflict arising from anti-government protests.
The House and the Senate will meet for two days from Oct 26, Prime Minister's Office Minister Anucha Nakasai announced. The proposal needs to be endorsed by His Majesty the King.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Monday that a royal decree had already been issued for a normal parliamentary session to start on Nov 1.
However, the constitution also allowed the cabinet to ask the King to approve the convening of an extraordinary session to address matters considered vital to the governance of the country.
It could also be reconvened if one-third of lawmakers from both houses supported a motion for a special session.
Protests calling for Gen Prayut's resignation have gathered pace around the country since student leaders and activists were arrested and water cannons used to disperse a rally in Bangkok last Friday night.
However, the pro-monarchy Thai Pakdee (Loyal Thai) group led by former Democrat MP Warong Dejkitvigrom, voiced fierce opposition to the special parliamentary session.
Dr Warong said anti-government protesters had no intention of addressing political issues and were actually only interested in taking aim at the monarchy.
He said some politicians had taken advantage of the situation to call for the opening of a special parliament session under a pretext of seeking a solution to the conflict but the truth was they wanted to exploit parliament to escalate the conflict and legitimise the demonstrations.
The Free Youth movement yesterday posted on Facebook that the "big surprise" announced earlier was "there is no surprise".
"Let's rest for the day. For a week, we fought bravely together. But the government is not aware feudalism is about to collapse," read the post.
"Since they have ignored our calls, they'd better wait for a big announcement on Wednesday [today]."
The opposition Pheu Thai Party asked the Civil Court to annul Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's order invoking a state of emergency and banning public gatherings in Bangkok, saying it violated people's rights.
The court will deliver its ruling on the matter tomorrow.
Gen Prayut declared a one-month state of emergency on Oct 15.
It prohibits gatherings of five people or more as well as news reports that are considered a threat to national security.