Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm will be the amnesty law EX – PM Thaksin back.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung on Thursday said he will continue to push for an amnesty law which will pave the way for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return home.

The move however would kickstart only after the government’s campaign against drugs and the cases of 91 Red Shirt protest-related deaths have concluded with those held accountable for the deaths being brought to justice, he said.

Mr Chalerm stated that he had to honour his campaign pledge in the lead up to the July 3 election.

“I had made it clear since 2009 that those who agree with my idea (to return Mr Thaksin to Thailand) should vote for the Pheu Thai Party. Then the result of July 3, 2011 election was in itself a referendum,” he said.

The deputy prime minister commented following an uproar from the opposition Democrat Party and anti-Thaksin movements which slammed the government’s attempt to seek royal pardon for Mr Thaksin, an elder brother of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Mr Chalerm shrugged off the reaction from the opponents of the draft royal pardon decree.

“I have no problem with those who opposed the move but I insist that the decree is not meant for any particular person but for the sake of national reconciliation and that will benefit us all,” he said.

The deputy prime minister said he would push the amnesty draft through parliament.

Mounting criticism and a public outcry have forced the government to back down on the amnesty move.

Mr Thaksin was ousted in the 2006 coup and was sentenced in absentia in 2008 to two years imprisonment for abuse of power for helping his then wife acquire a parcel of prime Bangkok commercial land at a price far below its market value.

Prime Minister Yingluck recently said that her brother’s name was not on the list of the convicts applying for the proposed royal pardon as part of celebrations to mark His Majesty King Bhumibol’s birthday on Dec 5.