New province is all a ploy, says Puea Thai
Bhumjaithai Party seen as beneficiary
Published: 6/08/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The proposal to create a 77th province - to be called Bung Kan - is being slammed as a bid by the coalition Bhumjaithai Party to compete against the Puea Thai Party for parliamentary seats.
The cabinet on Tuesday approved an Interior Ministry proposal to establish the new province in the Northeast which now makes up part of Nong Khai.
The new province will be made up of the eight districts of Bung Kan, Bung Khla, Bung Khong Long, Pak Khat, Phon Charoen, Seka, Si Wilai and So Phisai.
The creation of the new province has significant political implications in that Bhumjaithai and the other government coalition parties hope to gain an advantage over Puea Thai in securing more seats in the Northeast.
Nong Khai has two constituencies of three parliamentary seats each, all held by Puea Thai MPs.
The separation of the eight districts to form the new province will mean there will be just two parliamentary seats up for grabs in Bung Kan.
This has prompted Puea Thai to table its own version of the bill on the creation of the new province in parliament.
Puea Thai's version is aimed mainly at increasing the number of districts to nine so the new province qualifies for three seats in the House of Representatives.
Puea Thai MP for Nong Khai Cherdpong Rajpongkhan said the six Puea Thai MPs representing Nong Khai would push their version of the bill to ensure there would be three seats.
Mr Cherdpong said the proposal to add a ninth district was intended to accommodate the expected increase in future residents.
Puea Thai MP for Nong Khai Pongpan Sunthornchai said he did not expect the proposed establishment of the new province to hurt Puea Thai's support base in Nong Khai.
" Local residents will remain loyal to Puea Thai and former prime minister Thaksin [Shinawatra] no matter what other parties try to do," Mr Pongpan said.
"When they know it's Newin's [Newin Chidchob, de facto leader of Bhumjaithai] party, they'll just turn their backs on it."
Somkid Banthaisong, another Puea Thai MP for Nong Khai, believed the establishment of the new province was politically motivated.
But he said Bhumajaithai would find it tough to compete for seats in the Puea Thai stronghold.
A Bhumjaithai source said Mr Newin had asked Deputy Agriculture Minister Supachai Phosu of Bhumjaithai to speed up the effort to develop Bung Kan in the hope the party could get a foothold in the new province.
The cabinet recently approved the ministry's request for funding of 8billion baht to develop Bung Kan and Nakhon Phanom as rubber production centres for the Northeast and promote them as tourism gateways to Laos and Vietnam.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/189696/new-province-is-all-a-ploy-says-puea-thai
