BANGKOK, March 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is paying a two-day visit to Thai eastern provinces to inspect progress of his administration's projects and launch election campaign in some areas after work.

    The caretaker premier arrived in Nakhon Nayok Province Wednesday morning to inspect the Small, Medium and Large (SML) Village Fund Project, as well as the One Village One Product (OTOP) Scheme amid more than a thousand of supporting local residents who gave him flowers and asked him to continue being in office to complete his development plans for the nation.

    Thaksin promised that his administration would develop mass rail rapid transit systems in the province and would continue to materialize a plan to turn Nakhon Nayok to be a "sister city" of Bangkok over the next couple of years, saying the province has high potential to become a live able and developed tourist city.

    The caretaker prime minister then left for Prachinburi Province, where he inspected local dam projects. He will stay overnight in Chantaburi Province and will continue to travel to three other provinces, including Rayong, Trat and Chonburi on Thursday, the Thai News Agency said.

    The embattled caretaker prime minister is facing, on one hand, a strong pressure from anti-Thaksin middle-classed groups, led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), to force him to step down following his family's sale of Shin Corporation shares to Singapore's Temasek Holdings in late January and, on the other hand, an overwhelmed support by pro-Thaksin groups who are mostly people of the grassroots level and want him to remain in office. Enditem