In this file photo, Karoon Hosakul (right) and Thaksin Shinawatra (left).
Long-time Pheu Thai MP for Bangkok’s Don Mueang district Karoon Hosakul has announced his resignation from the party, saying he has no regrets over no longer being a member of the “Pheu Thai Family”. The term was recently coined at a party meeting, a party which is seeing former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s youngest daughter Paetongtarn’s position rise, after she was hailed as the “head of the family”.
In his Facebook post yesterday, Karoon admitted that, of late, he has started to experience problems in the party, despite working normally and as diligently as he always has, probably because he was viewed by some party executives as being close to Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, currently chair of the Thai Sang Thai party and former strategic chief of the Pheu Thai party.
He said that this opinion of him eventually led to mistrust, to the point that some party executives stopped treating him as a party member and even suggested that he should be barred from party meetings.
On the occasions when he did not attend a meeting, however, he said he was reprimanded, adding he felt everything he did was seen as wrong.
The MP said he was accused of defecting from the Pheu Thai party, while he was actually being forced to leave.
It has been speculated that he might join Sudarat and the Thai Sang Thai party. Several former members of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai, the predecessor of Pheu Thai party founded by Thaksin, have already done so.
The “Pheu Thai Family” concept debuted at the party’s meeting in the north-eastern province of Udon Thani province on Sunday, during which Paetongtarn Shinawatra, aka “Ing”, was named the “head of the family”, a position which is viewed by many as being just one step away from being nominated as the party’s candidate for prime minister.