Both former transport minister Chadchart Sittipunt and Pheu Thai Party heavyweight Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan on Monday dismissed rumours of a rift between them stemming from media reports they were competing for the party's nomination as top prime minister selection pick.
"We are a team and every matter depends on how the party will decide on it," said Mr Chadchart when asked about the rumoured conflict with Khunying Sudarat after some reports suggested he would be the party's No.1 prime ministerial candidate for the coming general election.
He firmly dismissed the reports, saying it's not important who is eventually nominated as the party's top choice as the only thing that matters is the party crossing the winning line together.
When asked who the party will nominate, Khunying Sudarat said that, in reality, there are a number of candidates as well herself and Mr Chadchart who are qualified for the role.
If the royal decree on the election comes this week as expected, the party will reveal its MP candidates and start working on its list of three prime ministerial candidates, she said.
Prayuth Siripanich, a member of Pheu Thai's MP selection committee, meanwhile said rumours about Mr Chadchart and Khunying Sudarat being nominated for prime minister were likely spread by someone with a ploy to get Pheu Thai dissolved as a punishment for allowing interference by an outsider, an act prohibited under the organic law on political parties.
The decision as to who will be nominated rests with the party's executives who have yet to discuss the matter, he said.
He also dismissed rumours that former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is involved in Pheu Thai decision making.
The fact is, he said, there is a consensus among most party members that Mr Chadchart and Khunying Sudarat are equally qualified to be prime minister, said Mr Prayuth.
In response to a recent remark about Pheu Thai by former industry minister Somsak Thepsuthin, now in charge of the Palang Pracharath Party's election campaign, who said if Pheu Thai wins the election, the same old political conflicts will re-emerge, Khunying Sudarat said that wasn't the case.
Pheu Thai didn't cause the past political conflict but the people with power did, she said.
Mr Chadchart and Khunying Sudarat visited areas in Bang Kapi district together on Monday, to offer their support to Trirat Sirichantharophat, a potential Pheu Thai MP candidate in the constituency.
Khunying Sudarat said most people she met complained about economic hardship, which she said had only occurred in the past four to five years under the current government's leadership.
She also criticised City Hall's pavement regulations, saying the policy should maintain a good balance between efforts to make Bangkok's pavements neat and clean and assurances that street vendors who used to occupy the space have a proper location to sell their wares and food.
She blamed the stringent pavement regulations for exacerbating the economic hardship.