Veteran Democrat 'offered 200 million baht to defect’
House Speaker and Democrat Party chief advisor Chuan Leekpai on Sunday alleged that a rival political party offered a veteran Democrat politician in a southern province 200 million baht to lead all Democrat MPs in the province to another party.
Chuan did not name the party that offered the money or the Democrat it was offered to.
The politician declined the 200 million baht offer but eventually decided to leave the Democrats, said Chuan, a former leader of the party.
Chuan said the Democrat veteran confessed he was offered 200 million baht to help another party sweep House seats in the southern province while Chuan visited him in a hospital.
Chuan said his colleague did not take the offer at the time and remained a Democrat.
“However, he eventually joined another party. I heard the prime minister invited him to join his party, but I’m not sure because I didn’t check with the prime minister,” Chuan said.
Chuan said he was worried about the declining popularity of the Democrats in some southern provinces.
“But I think the Democrats will not be wiped out from the South because our party has villagers as our key base and they still have faith in us,” he said.
The former prime minister added that some Democrats assured him they would remain loyal to the party.
He has told other Democrats that an ad hoc party would have no permanent future.
It is impossible to prevent all defections because some politicians feel that they are getting older and have no chance of becoming Cabinet members, Chuan said.
“These politicians decided to leave to join a smaller party so they would have a better chance of getting a Cabinet seat,” he added.
He admitted that some party members asked him to lead the party, but he turned down the offer.
“I told them that it could not be done as the party had already elected Jurin. If they want to change the leader, they must wait for Jurin to complete his term first,” Chuan said.
