Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Wednesday ruled out any move to dissolve the House and said she was puzzled about why such a rumour was even circulating.
In fact, it was her father who first drew attention to the rumour when he mentioned it on Tuesday while helping the Pheu Thai Party candidate campaign in the Chiang Mai provincial election.
“No one (in the government) has brought up the subject. I’m as confused as anyone as to how this idea came about,” Ms Paetongtarn told reporters.
Former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the de facto leader of Pheu Thai, told his audience in Chiang Mai that any talk of dissolving the House was pure fantasy.
However, he did not say who first floated the idea.
Deputy Transport Minister Manaporn Charoensri said no party in the coalition government wants the House to be dissolved.
“People elected us to work for the country to the best of our ability and that is what we will do. We will serve out the (remainder) of our four-year term,” she said.
Reporters also asked Ms Paetongtarn whether she planned to attend Thursday’s session of parliament and answer questions from the opposition.
She simply smiled and said: “Merry Christmas.”
Earlier this month, the opposition criticised the prime minister for her absence from the House when they had questions for her. Ms Paetongtarn said she was unable to attend because she was busy announcing the government’s achievements during its past 90 days.
Ms Manaporn said Ms Paetongtarn has to carefully allocates her time to carry out her duties.
The deputy minister said certain questions, although directed to the prime minister, could be best answered by the relevant ministers. In such cases, the premier would assign someone in the cabinet to answer.
“All ministers are ready to answer questions,” Ms Manaporn said.