Be careful of this possible ploy. More than 100 TRT members resigned yesterday. This means that now, Thaksin and those who have resigned will not be banned from politics for 5 years if the courts find TRT guilty of the charges against it. In turn, all these turkeys can come back and run as a group under a newly formed party when elections are scheduled in a year's time. Pete
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BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand's deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra has resigned as leader of his Thai Rak Thai party, the nation's most powerful political force until last month's coup, a top party official has said.
"I must resign because of the new environment. I have to do this to keep the party alive," Thaksin said in a handwritten letter read out by the official at a press conference.
"I would like to thank everyone, including the party committee and all the staff for building our party and making it strong enough to become a party for the people, with more than 14 million members who had confidence in us to form a government for two terms," the letter said.
The party official, Pongthep Thepkanjana, told reporters that the letter was dated October 2 and sent from London, where Thaksin has been living since the military ousted him in a bloodless coup two weeks ago.
Thaksin created Thai Rak Thai, or "Thais Love Thais", in 1998 and transformed it into a political machine that won widespread popularity, especially in mainly rural northern Thailand.
His party was the first to lavish attention and resources on the rural poor, whose incomes rose dramatically during his five years in office.
Scores of top-level party members including Thaksin's former deputy premier Surakiart Sathirathai resigned on Monday, as the country's junta stepped up investigations into alleged corruption under Thaksin's government.