Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha still keeps his cards close to his chest as far as his political future is concerned but admitted today that he is “interested” in politics but stopped short of saying whether or not he would run in the upcoming election.
“All I can say now is I am interested in politics. But how I will decide [on my future in politics] or who I will support will be a different matter, which will take me a while to decide on. I will inform you later [about the decision],” he said.
He reasoned that he was interested in politics because he was interested in all the work he had begun implementing and would want to follow up on its progress.
And to find out if the work he was doing would be adopted by a new government or not, he would have talks with political parties and groups to gauge their opinions about this, he said.
“So let me put it this way, my first word here is that I’m interested in politics,” he said during a brief interview with journalists.
“The reason is I am concerned about the Thai people and I love my nation. Of course, I think everyone else does. The media, too, have to love our nation,” he said. And with that, the prime minister walked away from the reporters without taking any more questions.
And when a reporter shouted out her question asking him if he would resign as chief of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to ensure fairness in the coming political race if he does decide to enter politics, Gen Prayut simply replied: “I won’t”.
As momentum builds up for the election, Gen Prayut has been consistently asked by the media to make known his political plans. Such question has more often than not infuriated him. When he was asked the question the last time, he emotionally dismissed it by saying “it’s my business.”
