[Kdgjhytiy]

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Monday declined to comment on the remark made by her brother, fugitive former premier Thaksin, that he hoped to return to Thailand this year because 2012 was auspicious, media reports said.

Ms Yingluck was updating the progress of the government’s projects to members of the media at Government House when she was asked by several reporters about Thaksin’s latest announcement of returning to his homeland.

Ms Yingluck reportedly denied to comment on the matter and hurriedly walked away from the group of reporters and left the premises in her official limousine.

Thaksin told a crowd of red shirts when he spent his Songkran holiday in Cambodia's Siem Reap province on Sunday that 2012 might be the right time to come home and said he hoped good things would happen to him on what he said was an auspicious year for Thailand.

He noted that 2012 will mark the 80th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen and the 60th birthday of HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

However, the former prime minister, who was deposed in the Sept 19, 2006 coup, denied this implies he is planning an early return.

Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat on Monday also declined to comment on the remark, saying only that it was Thaksin’s right to make such an announcement.

On academics’ comments that Thaksin’s “movements” will only hinder attempts to build reconciliation, ACM Sukumpol said Thaksin had the right to do so but the government would monitor him to see if it is within the frame of the law.