Chavalit was musing on his political options at celebrations of his 75th birthday in Nakhon Phanom. The former Army chief said that forming a party required a lot of money and "careful consideration".

Former MPs from the Northeast, plus local authorities and members of the private sector were invited to join him for the celebrations.

When asked if he was ready to form a new political party, Chavalit replied that all he had to do was call everybody who was ready to join him - but yesterday was not the time to think about raising money.

Chavalit was previously expected to take over as the Thai Rak Thai party leader - but resigned. Former MPs in the Northeast have tried to get him to form a new party.

Political coordinator :NLA member gives up role

National Legislative Assembly member Gen Preecha Rojanasen said yesterday he would stop acting as a coordinator between the assembly and the government after proposals he had made to the prime minister failed to get a positive response.

He said cooperation with the government had broken down after he put forward a request to Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont to reassign ministers whose workload had dropped, but the premier refused.

"The prime minister told us he had asked them [ministers] to do the job himself, and therefore he could not remove them," Gen Preecha said.

He said he decided to resign because, while his could not achieve results in his office, he was satisfied he could still work with the government.