PM Abhisit has just denied rumours that his Democrat Party may be joining hands with Thakin's opposition Pheau Thai Party to form  a new coalition governmernt.

"It's just impossible," he declared.

How did the speculation get started in the first place?

There were whispers that one senior member of PT who is a close friend of a deputy spokesman of the Democrat Party were talking about that highly unlikely possibility.

Now, they both say it was just a joke among friends.

Then came Deputy Premier Suthep's open-ended remarks yesterday that he was ready to sit down and talk to Thaksin anytime.

But the real motive might have been to spread the rumour to stem the Democrats' current coalition partners to put presse on the premier to appoint their men to senior posts in the commerce and communications ministries. The posts of permanent secretaries of these two ministries weren't confirmed in the Cabinet yesterday.

There were rumours also that the coalition partners were threatening not to endorse Abhisit's nomination to the top police post if he didn't switch on the greenlight for their choices at the two ministries.

It's not too hard, then, to imagine why some naughty Democrats would want to spread stories about a possible Democrats0-PT link-up just to scare off their own coalition partners.

Now, you know why.