Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has faced a media storm over his comments backing incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha as a potential candidate to be an "outsider" premier (that is, a leader who is not linked to a political party).
Although Mr Somkid did not explicitly say he expects the coup leader to return as an outsider PM, politicians have jumped on the bandwagon to lambast him for an off-the-cuff remark made when journalists asked him if he was prepared to return to work under a similar government set-up.
Speculation arose after a reported meeting of some old-guard politicians at his house not too long ago, supposedly arranged by former political heavyweight Suchart Tancharoen, who has had a chequered history stretching back to the 1990s.
