Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon says his ties with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda remain solid and unbreakable.
Gen Prawit was responding on Wednesday to speculation that his friendship with Gen Prayut may have turned sour after they went on separate trips to different provinces on Tuesday.
The prime minister and his entourage headed to Phetchaburi while Gen Prawit, accompanied by a large number of Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) MPs, visited Ayutthaya.
Gen Prawit said he and Gen Prayut have never had problems with each other, but the media was trying to drive a wedge between them.
"We have been close for over 50 years. Reports about us parting ways are nonsense," he said.
The PPRP leader said Gen Prayut visits him every day at the Foundation for the Conservation of Forests in Five Adjoining Provinces at the 1st Infantry Division base in Bangkok. The office is known to be Gen Prawit's "operations centre".
Gen Prawit said said he did not accompany Gen Prayut to Phetchaburi because he could not walk as quickly as the prime minister. It was better for him to make a separate trip, and cover more places, he added.