Yingluck mulls over returning to politics

Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (L) and her son Supasek Amornchat (R) gesture in a traditional greeting to the media as they arrive at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport July 23, 2014. Yingluck has kept a low profile since being removed from power after her government was ousted in a coup in May. Last week the junta gave her permission to travel abroad and, according to local media, she is thought to be heading to France, where her brother Thaksin Shinawatra will celebrate his 65th birthday on Saturday, July 26.  [Photo/Agencies]

BANGKOK - Thai ex-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has said that she has designs on a parliamentary run in 2016 if allowed.

In her first public interview since she was ousted, Yingluck said that she knew from the day she became prime minister her administration would end up toppled from power in a military coup, just as her brother Thaksin Shinawatra was.

Yingluck defended her administration and rejected accusations of corruption, comparing the coup to a carjacking.

"I knew from the first day I was prime minister that if it wasn 't cut short by the independent agencies or the judiciary, it would be a coup," Yingluck was quoted by the Bangkok Post newspaper as saying on Monday.

Yingluck has come under fire for a failed rice-subsidy plan that is alleged to have cost the state 600 billion baht in losses.

She faces the prospect of impeachment and possibly a trial in the Supreme Court for alleged dereliction of duty in the scheme.

She rejected any wrongdoing and said she intends to fight the case. The rice-pledging policy benefited the farmers, she said, adding that rice-subsidy policies have been implemented by other governments.

It has been six months since Yingluck was ousted from power by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military junta headed by former army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha who has since replaced her as prime minister.

"I try to keep a low profile, in keeping with the request by the NCPO. These days, I read books, meet up with friends and eat out or go shopping. But it's not often that I do this. I don't want to be in the news," Yingluck said.

She said right now, what she does in life isn't always up to her.

"Since the coup, someone else has chosen the path I walk for me. I have no idea what other path they might draw up for me. I'm not at all in a position to choose," Yingluck said.

Looking back, she said she has no regrets about her short tenure as premier.