PM calls for national reconciliation

CHINAG MAI, April 14 (TNA) - As people are celebrating the annual Songkran festival, Thailand’s traditional New Year, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Saturday wished the people happiness and to unite. Yingluck said during her weekly radio address while she is celebrating the second of the three-day festival in her native province of Chiang Mai that she wished the people to start the new life, to forgive each other and to uphold reconciliation. She called for the blessings of Their Majesties the King and Queen to protect the Thais so that they could live happily forever. Social divisiveness has widened in the country following the bloodless coup on September 19, 2006 which toppled the elected government of prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, elder brother of Yingluck. Touching on rising goods prices, Yingluck said she had visited markets and found that their prices have started declining and she believes prices should return to normal in June. On the significant of Songkran, she said it allows family members to stay together and, most importantly, she found many foreign tourists have joined the festival in Chiang Mai, displaying that they have confidence in Thailand. (TNA)