Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said he wanted to personally assure rural communities in the northeastern provinces of Sakon Nakhon and Buriram that his administration would maintain Thaksin's welfare and universal health care programs that were enormously popular with the poor.

"I am going to listen to their grievances," Surayud told reporters in Bangkok before departing.

When asked if Thaksin's supporters were believed to be stirring trouble in the area to sabotage the post-coup government, Surayud replied: "There are links. That is all I can say for the time being."

Coup leaders have publicly explained the September 19 coup by saying that the military intervened because intelligence showed the likelihood of imminent, violent clashes between Thaksin's supporters and opponents in Bangkok.

One of Thaksin's top aides, Newin Chidchob, a minister in the prime minister's office with wide influence in the northeast, was detained shortly after the coup. Intelligence showed he was behind a plan to mobilize people in the region to bring them to Bangkok to clash with Thaksin opponents, highly placed officials have told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Newin was detained for over a week.

Voters in the populous northeast ushered Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party to three successive election victories.

Despite Thaksin's popularity with the poor, he was almost universally opposed by the country's elite, who accused him of widespread corruption and abuse of power. Massive anti-Thaksin rallies were staged in Bangkok for several months earlier this year.

Surayud is scheduled to make his first official trips abroad this weekend, with visits to neighboring Laos on Saturday and Cambodia on Sunday.

Surayud was installed as interim prime minister October 1 by coup leaders who ousted Thaksin while he was in New York on an official trip. He has since been in London, where he owns an apartment.