Tracksuited Thai junta chief leads workout for bureaucrats

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-cha (right) exercises with government officials at the Government House in Bangkok on November 23, 2016. -AFP

BANGKOK: He’s a mercurial army general known for penning saccharine ballads and angry tirades against his critics. Now Thailand’s junta chief has launched a new eye-catching project: trimming the waistlines of the kingdom’s civil servants.

Former army chief turned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha ditched his fatigues for a tracksuit and trainers Wednesday as he led hundreds of bureaucrats in an mass exercise session.