s revelations that some lawmakers had threatened to quit the party over President Chen Shui-bian's alleged involvement in corruption. Yu Shyi-kun on Thursday revealed during a TV interview that some DPP lawmakers threatened to quit on Nov. 5 shortly after Chen's press conference that day, in which the president defended himself and first lady Wu Shu-chen from the corruption allegations.
Yu claimed someone called DPP Deputy Secretary General Tsai Huang-liang trying to stop the party from making an immediate response to Chen's defense.
The person said 15 lawmakers would leave the DPP and support a recall drive against Chen if the party held a press conference ahead of a DPP legislative caucus meeting that would discuss the president's row, Yu said.
Despite the "threat," Yu held a press conference to pledge support for the president, whose wife was indicted on corruption charges earlier that day.
No DPP lawmakers quit the party, or supported the recall drive launched by the opposition.
But two lawmakers from the party's New Tide faction, Lin Cho-shu and Lee Wen-chung, resigned from the Legislature to protest their party's inaction over Chen's case.
Yu yesterday played down his remarks, saying he was making the revelations only in response to the interviewer's question.
"That's the end of the story," Yu said, declining to make further comments.
The DPP chairman did not identify the person, or the names of the 15 lawmakers in the interview.
But observers believe that it is the New Tide faction that was making the "threat."
Lee, one of the two who resigned from the Legislature, said he did talk to the party that day asking it not to make a quick decision on the Chen case.
He said he asked the party to wait until the Central Executive Committee met.
Lee, whose New Tide faction is the most outspoken camp inside the party, also denied that he had mentioned anything about leading 15 lawmakers to break ranks with the DPP.
"It was communication within the party. That word (threat) should not have been used to described it," Lee was cited by the United Daily News as saying.
Legislator Hong Chi-chang, a leader of the New Tide faction, admitted he had telephoned the DPP's legislative leader Ker Chien-ming that day asking the party not make a quick decision on the Chen issue. But he said "threatening" was not his way of doing things.
Another New Tide heavyweight, former Legislator Tuang Yi-kang, said he could not believe that Yu had actually made the revelations, which he described as tantamount to an attempt to split the party.
"What is the role of this chairman?" Tuan was cited by the United Daily as saying.
DPP Legislator Wei Ming-ku said Yu, as chairman of the party, is supposed to bridge the gap between different factions.
If he led the fight against factions, he would become the "chairman of a faction, Wei said.
Wei said no one would dare to "threaten" the party chairman, and the row must have been the result of a misunderstanding.
DPP legislative caucus leader, Ker, said no one was threatening to quit the party.
Former DPP Chairman Shih Ming-teh last September launched a massive marathon sit-in trying to oust Chen after the president and the first lady were said to have used false receipts to claim from the presidential expense account.
Chen refused to resign, while DPP lawmakers also managed to foil their opposition counterparts' attempts to kickoff a formal presidential recall process.
Prosecutors on Nov. 5 indicted Wu and three others, but did not press charges against Chen, citing presidential immunity.
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