THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Being clever is no crime in politics. In fact, a degree of cleverness is a prerequisite for survival in the political jungle. But when you try to be too clever by half, you run the risk of facing huge embarrassment and public ridicule.
That is the fate which has befallen Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his loyalists who stubbornly resisted KPCC President V. M. Sudheeran’s consistent demand that 418 closed bars in the state should not be reopened. The Chief Minister, however, made it clear that the 418 bars cannot be kept closed for ever, hinting at the possibility of some of the bars being reopened. Chandy loyalist and KPCC vice-president, M. M. Hassan even went to the extent of criticizing the KPCC chief for making it difficult for the CM to function.
But when it became clear that Sudheeran won’t bow to the pressure, the Chief Minister, who felt the ground sl