Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra formally took back the reins of power on Tuesday, chairing a cabinet meeting almost two months after he came under fire from critics and announced he was taking a break.
"Certainly," Thaksin replied with a broad smile when asked if he was back in charge of a country which has suffered economically from the political chaos that has prevailed since an inconclusive April 2 general election was declared unlawful.
High on the agenda was getting approval for some of the $43 billion of infrastructure projects put on hold after the election left parliament unable to meet to choose a new prime minister.
The first to be discussed was a plan for new underground railway routes for Bangkok to stimulate economic growth which is slipping due to high oil prices and the absence of a date for a re-run election, hobbling government decision making. But the cabinet told the Transport Ministry to re-submit the plan next week with more details, officials said.
Thaksin met security chiefs on the rebellious Muslim south and cabinet ministers on the economy on Monday after saying at the weekend it was time he got back to work.
He said after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday he was planning another trip to the region where more than 1,300 people have been killed in the two-year separatist insurgency.
"I always want to visit places where there are problems," he as more than 100 schools in the far south were closed for a week after villagers abducted and beat two women Buddhist teachers last week, leaving one in a coma.
The reaction to his return from foes whose street protests forced Thaksin into the snap April 2 election was fairly mild ahead of celebrations next month for revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 60th anniversary on the throne.
The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which led the campaign, said it would resume the street protest - but not until after the celebrations for the world's longest reigning monarch.
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