Pheu Thai Party hit the campaign trail for the general election in May with a slogan that it believed struck the right chord with voters: “Smoke out the rat, crush the cobras”.
Little did it know back then that it would soon come back to haunt it.
The “rat” is a reference to the Thai nickname of Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul (or Noo) while “cobras” refer to a group of dissident MPs of Pheu Thai. These MPs not only defied the party’s political stands when it came to voting in the House but also defected to join Bhumjaithai as its candidates in the recent election.
In short, Pheu Thai was painting Bhumjaithai as its arch political enemy. Worse still, Bhumjaithai was also portrayed as a main sympathizer of the power clique headed by outgoing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Bhumjaithai is a major partner in the lame duck administration and emerged…
