House Speaker Chuan Leekpai insisted on Tuesday that an attempt by the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) to petition the Constitutional Court would not affect the schedule for the censure debate, which is expected to take place from Feb 16-19.
Mr Chuan said he only learned on Monday that the PPRP would be urgently seeking the House of Representatives' approval for its bid to seek the Constitutional Court's ruling on the no-confidence motion.
He said Deputy House Speaker Supachai Phosu would screen the motion before it was forwarded to him for consideration to be included on the House's agenda.
This week's House timetable has so far not changed, Mr Chuan said, although he admitted there was no precedent for a motion claiming a no-confidence motion was unconstitutional.
The PPRP vowed to petition the Constitutional Court to rule on the upcoming no-confidence motion after the opposition bloc refused to reword sections which mentioned the monarchy.
Government chief whip Wirach Ratanasate insisted the real motive for the PPRP's move was not to stall the no-confidence debate against the government but to confront the opposition's specific motion.
"This isn't a political game but a real intention to assert that the no-confidence motion isn't correct and it should have been corrected since objections were previously raised about it," said Mr Wirach.
The chief whip added that government MPs would never tolerate any mention of the monarchy in the upcoming censure debate and he still hoped that opposition MPs would not be tempted to do so when reading their motion in parliament.
The PPRP's motion seeking the House's approval for it to seek the Constitutional Court's ruling had still not been included in the House's meeting agenda as of on Tuesday, Mr Wirach said.
Chief opposition whip and Pheu Thai MP Sutin Klungsang denounced the PPRP's move, saying the motion would only stall the anticipated censure debate.
The PPRP should also accept the fact that before the no-confidence motion was accepted and included in the House's meeting agenda, it had already passed deliberation by the House's legal team and the parliament's president, he said.
Therefore, the party should at the very least have respect for the parliament president.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his deputy, Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, insisted on Tuesday that government MPs were ready for the censure debate.