Former Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) secretary-general Capt Thamanat Prompow, along with 20 other PPRP MPs, yesterday announced they have officially become members of the Kla Dharma Party.
The move has brought the total number of Kla Dharma MPs to 24, said Capt Thamanat at a press conference in parliament yesterday.
Previously, Capt Thamanat led the group of PPRP MPs in a party rebellion amid a major dispute with Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, the PPRP leader, reportedly over the allocation of cabinet posts.
The Thamanat faction was later granted three seats in the Paetongtarn Shinawatra cabinet, and the PPRP was booted out of the coalition line-up.
The PPRP had initially refused to expel the Thamanat faction, which would have allowed them to move to another party and keep their MP statuses as well.
It was only last week that the PPRP purged the 20 MPs who immediately looked for a new home.
It was reported that the PPRP's sudden move to finally get rid of the 20 MPs may have been part of a secret deal to stop more damning information being released about the alleged involvement of a close female associate of Gen Prawit in agricultural land encroachment.
The PPRP has denied any such deal existed.
Capt Thamanat said yesterday the investigation into the land encroachment case linked to the Phu Nub Dao resort in Saraburi began while he was the agriculture and cooperatives minister under the PPRP-led administration.
He said more MPs will likely follow him to the new party. He expected Kla Dharma will eventually grow to have at least 30 MPs.
Asked whether he expected a portfolio in a future cabinet reshuffle, Capt Thamanat said that he had "been there and done that" and that Kla Dharma already has two ministers in the cabinet.
