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Bangkok: Thailand's prime minister angrily insisted he was the country's real leader on Friday despite the triumphant return from exile of deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the man considered the driving force behind the new government.
"I am the real prime minister!" Samak Sundaravej snapped at a reporter who suggested that Thaksin was once again the government's boss.
"Is that all you can think of? How shameful. How can you say that there are two prime ministers?"
Samak and his People's Power Party won the December 23 general elections by openly campaigning as proxies for Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and had lived abroad until Thursday.
Thaksin's homecoming after 17 months in exile was widely seen as a return to the center of Thai politics despite the military's efforts to eradicate his legacy.
Commentaries in several Bangkok newspapers yesterday focused on Thaksin returning to rebuild his power base just as rifts are surfacing within the PPP and Samak, who was hand-picked by Thaksin, now appears intent on consolidating power
"I am no one's nominee," Samak snapped at reporters as he headed off on his first official visit to Laos.
Before leaving, Samak ordered the dismissal of the country's national police chief, Gen Seriphisut Temiyawej, said deputy police commissioner Pacharawat Wongsuwan.
Seriphisut was an ally of the country's previous military-installed government.
A week ago, the government fired the head of the Department of Special Investigations, which is investigating several corruption cases against Thaksin.
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