A large number of Pheu Thai members, former MPs, cabinet members and red-shirt leaders will rendezvous with former prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra on Oct 25 for a post-Buddhist Lent merit-making ceremony at Bodhgaya in the state of Bihar in India, according an informed Pheu Thai source.
The source said the politicians and activists will depart from Suvarnabhumi airport at 6am on Saturday on a Thai Airways International charter flight scheduled to arrive in Bodhgaya at 9am.
They will attend a tod kathin ceremony to give offerings at a Buddhist temple in Bodhgaya at 1pm. They are scheduled to return to Thailand at 8.40pm.
Celebrated in Northeast Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, the the Tod Krathin Festival typically includes colourful parades and offering ceremonies beginning on Auk Phansa, the end of Buddhist Lent, which this year fell on Oct. 8. Tod Kathin sees Buddhists go to their local temple for prayers and paying respect to the sacred relicts. It also marks the start of a 30-day period of merit making which affords a special opportunity for prayers to Lord Buddha and for the presentation of gifts to the monks for preserving the faith. Principal among the offerings are new saffron-coloured robes.
Thaksin is scheduled to stay in India on Oct 24-26 and has plans to meet with three groups from Thailand. Of those, one will be led by Ms Yingluck and one by former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat and his wife Yaowapa. The other will comprise former red-shirt MPs from the North and Northeast.
Ms Yingluck left Thailand on Oct 19 for Japan for a trip with her son Supasek Amornchat. Accompanying her in the trip was a team of lawyers led by Pichit Chuenban.
It was believed Mr Thaksin would fly to Japan to personally meet with his sister and the lawyers. After that all of them would leave for India for the ceremony, the source said.