Yongyuth Wichaidit said today that his resignation from the positions of deputy prime minister and interior minister

will be effective Monday, reaffirming that he was not pressured to leave the Cabinet positions.

He said his leadership in the ruling Pheu Thai party and party-list membership in the House of Representatives will remain intact.

Yongyuth visited Wat Sa Ket in the afternoon to pay homage to the abbot. Some Red Shirt activists and supporters of the Red Shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), including former MP Jatuporn Prompan, Deputy Agriculture Minister Nattawut Saikua and Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit, appeared at the temple to give moral support.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) earlier ruled that Mr Yongyuth had unlawfully endorsed the sale of monastic land owned by Wat Thammikaran to the Alpine Real Estate Co and the Alpine Golf and Sports Club Co while he held the position of deputy permanent secretary for interior. (MCOT online news)