Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra stepped aside yesterday and let a deputy assume the top spot as politicians tried to find a way out of a long-running crisis.

Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasathidya, responsible for security in the Muslim south where a separatist insurgency has boiled since 2004, would take over, but Thaksin could take back the job if necessary, a government spokesman said. “I am taking a rest for now,” Thaksin, carrying a framed photograph of his family from his desk, told reporters after chairing a cabinet meeting at Government House.

Thaksin said he would remain in Thailand, probably visiting his hometown in the north. “I will be around and if I have time I will go to Chiang Mai,”he said. His opponents were still digesting his stunning promise on Tuesday evening to quit.

Thaksin apologised to the 16 million people he said voted for him on Sunday only to see him pushed from office two days later.

“I must say that I’m not happy that I have to apologise to the people, but this is to bring national reconciliation,” he said.