By Nopporn Wong-Anan
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's embattled prime ministersaid on Sunday there was no chance of a coup against hisgovernment and that he would go to the U.N. General Assemblysession in New York later this month as scheduled.
Thailand's last elected prime minister was removed fromoffice in a military putsch just hours before he addressed theGeneral Assembly on a similar visit in 2006.
"I will go to speak at the United Nations, even thoughThaksin (Shinawatra) went to speak there and did not return,"Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said in his regular weeklytelevision broadcast.
"I can still handle the situation."
Samak is facing a three-month campaign for his ouster andthousands of anti-government activists have barricadedthemselves in his official compound, refusing to move until hequits.
The prime minister has offered to hold a referendum on hisseven-month rule, but the activists of the People's Alliancefor Democracy (PAD) have rejected the offer.
"The army chief has already said there is no reason tolaunch one," Samak said, referring to widespread speculationthat the highly politicised military could stage a coup, as ithas about two dozen times since Thailand ended absolutemonarchy in 1932.
On Saturday, military Supreme Commander BoonsrangNiumpradit told Reuters senior officers had met to discuss thepolitical crisis facing the nation and nobody was thinking ofintervening.
"But if it drags on like this and people keep telling thearmy to launch a coup, I don't know what will happen."
Analysts say Samak's offer to hold a referendum makes itharder to force his ouster through intervention either by themilitary or by revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has steppedinto disputes in the past.
Samak, who was elected to head a coalition government inJanuary, is widely viewed as a puppet of Thaksin, who now livesin exile in London.
Thaksin is still admired by rural Thais who handed him hugeparliamentary majorities in return for his populist programmes,but despised by Bangkok's middle class, the military and theroyalist establishment, who all opposed his modernising agenda.
He was also accused of abuse of power and corruption whilein office.
The PAD, a hodgepodge collection of retired army officers,royalists and academics, also paints itself as a guardian ofthe king against a supposed Thaksin bid to turn Thailand into arepublic, a charge denied by both Thaksin and the government.
Thai stocks have fallen more than 26 percent since the PADlaunched its campaign at the end of May, while the baht hasplunged to a 19-month low against the dollar, although bothmarkets have also been hurt by high inflation and the globaleconomic slowdown.
(Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
