Thailand’s political crisis deepened on Sunday after main protest leader said the door for talks had ‘shut’ even as the Government threatened to use force to reclaim key State buildings besieged for months by Opposition activists bent on toppling premier Yingluck Shinawatra.
Suthep Thaugsuban, who heads the People’s Democratic Reform Committee, set an impossible condition for dialogue by saying he would only talk with former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is in self-exile. “So the door for talks should be considered shut. I won’t have talks with Yingluck, either in secret or in public. Also, I won’t negotiate with any representative from the Government because they have no real power,” said Suthep, a former deputy premier and Opposition leader. He was of the view that Thaksin, the brother of Yingluck, would not return to Thailand and risk being arrested as he had been convicted for abuse of power.
He claimed Thaksin was the de-facto leader of the current caretaker Government. Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a coup in 2006 and lives in Dubai.