Kaewsun Atibodhi, formerly a member of the post-coup Assets Examination Committee, said yesterday that he suspected the move was aimed at paving the way for giving amnesty to fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was sentenced to jail under the present Constitution, which was drafted after the coup of 2006.

Thaksin is widely seen as the de-facto leader of the Pheu Thai Party, which won an overwhelming majority in the July 3 general elections.

Former judge Manit Jitjanklab, a key member of Pheu Thai's working group on legal affairs, said on Monday that his team came up with the idea of a referendum as a way to prevent the party from being dissolved.

Pheu Thai's two previous incarnations - Thai Rak Thai and People Power Party - were dissolved by court for electoral fraud.

Kaewsun yesterday said he did not think reinstating the 1997 Constitution would help prevent Pheu Thai from being dissolved if it had actually violated the relevant law, particularly the Constitution. It was because the previous charter also called for punishing the violating party with dissolution.

He noted that Thaksin earlier had said he was mistreated by the current Constitution and that he wanted amnesty for politicians punished under the current charter.