Bhumjaithai threatens to swap Kla Tham with Democrats over Agriculture portfolio

The Kla Tham party has been given a deadline to respond to Bhumjaithai’s invitation to join the coalition within this week, or the party will be replaced by the Democrat party, according to a well-informed Bhumjaithai source.

Currently, the Bhumjaithai-led coalition commands a total of 281 seats in the House of Representatives.

These include the 193 seats of Bhumjaithai, Pheu Thai ‘s 74 seats, five from the Palang Pracharath party, three from the Economics party and one each from Ruam Jai Thai, Thaisubthawee, New Democracy, Palang Prachachon (People’s Force) and New Dimension.

The source said that the Bhumjaithai party has made it known that it wants the agriculture portfolio, currently held by the Kla Tham party, so it can help farmers in sync with Commerce Ministry, which is already overseen by Bhumjaithai.

The source noted that, if Kla Tham refuses to trade agriculture portfolio for another ministry, the Bhumjaithai party my make an approach to the Democrat party instead.

The Kla Tham party won 58 House seats, while the Democrats won 22, according to the unofficial poll results from the Election Commission.

The source went on to say that the allocation of Cabinet portfolios among the coalition partners is based on a ratio of one seat in the Cabinet for every ten House seats a party holds.

This means that Bhumjaithai would get 19 Cabinet portfolios, seven for the Pheu Thai and the rest of the seats will be allocated among the remaining parties.

Closed-door talks on the Cabinet seat allocation remain inconclusive, said the source, adding that the Bhumjaithai party wants to take charge of the economic portfolios, such as Finance, Commerce and Transport, and ministries concerned with national security, such as defence and interior.

Meanwhile, the Pheu Thai party is expected to be given education, labour and science, research and innovations.