He didn’t hear what he didn’t want to

Number One in yahapalanaya had occasion the other day to have a chat with a deputy of a key ministry who entered Diyawanna from a remote area. 

They stand pat despite the ‘unkind cut’

Three top team members have been hamstrung due to funds to their Ministries being deliberately blocked by a powerful colleague, they say.

To hook them by hook or by crook

A senior purohita has now got a contract from a political authority in the highest echelons to induce certain JO-leaning Betel leaf Diyawanna members to stay put by offering each of them a suitable carrot. 

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

A senior top team member from the Green party is said to be fuming with anger over the cut-back of a major part from the Ministry’s budgetary apportionment thereby sending its development programmes for the year into a tailspin.

Four deputies this time round?

The all-powerful Green leader is set to appoint four deputy leaders to the party, they say.

He does it again

Number Two in yahapalanaya the other day summoned uniformed high-ups of a department handling law and order for a conference at his official residence. The top team member responsible for the subject too attended this conference.

Their angry query: Why only us?

Betel-leaf party’s chief secretarial one is a long-faced one these days, they say.

Failed diplomacy?

A Colombo-based envoy of a powerful Western country met the professor leading the Pohottuwa party at a high-society party held in the city recently.  

Bid to save private property at the cost of forest cover

The original plan of the proposed railway extension from Kurunegala to Dambulla has reportedly been altered on the sly for diverting a four-km stretch of track through a forest reserve. 

He is back at ground zero

It is not something unusual for politicos at every level in the polity to change their political party allegiance from time to time to suit their personal purposes. 

Spring comes to them ahead of carnival

Peacock-pictured greenbacks in their thousands are making their way right into the hands of white-collar ones of a ‘small government’ in a salubrious area these days. These lucky ones are busy organizing the grand Spring Carnival to be staged come April. 

Acid remark sees them disappear

A sanghika dana to more than 2,000 bhikkhus was offered at the President’s House recently to mark Number One’s second anniversary in office and also the birth anniversary of the Blue party’s founder-leader.

New tie-up puts JO on tenterhooks

All indications are that the Hambantota Industrial Zone (HIZ) project has run into serious trouble with the JO dead set to upset the apple cart. 

Ill-timed appeal draws a nasty response

The chief purohitas of the Betel leaf party had received a directive from the palace asking them to seek the support of the former strongman to win the local polls round the corner. 

Prelates to preach to uniformed top brass

The prelates of the two leading Buddhist temples in Kandy have received several complaints against the uniformed top brass regarding the ‘shabby treatment’ meted out to the monks who spearheaded the recent protest in Hambantota. 

Two from the top team put in the dock

Number One in Yahapalanaya held a powwow with the front-liners of the Betel leaf party at his official residence recently.

A shining example in humility

A commemorative ceremony to mark the birth anniversary of the founder-leader of the Blue party was held at his statue on the Galle Face Green the other day. 

His quick move derails the gravy train

The government decision to drastically reduce the import duty on rice imports had come as a surprise to the business circles.

Has the local agent become the casualty?

The story that a certain renowned German carmaker was planning to set up an assembly plant in Kuliyapitiya on the invitation of the government made newspaper headlines and created a sensation in the country in the recent past.

They quit in disgust

Of the 80 graduates recruited recently to various divisions of the Diyawanna council secretariat, at least 10 have reportedly quit their posts after tendering their resignation letters. 

This worthy is not credit-worthy

A uniformed high-up attached to a post located close to a world famous botanical garden has willfully defaulted on a hefty loan obtained from the department’s welfare society.

They delight over politico’s plight

Bakery products, mainly bread vending tuck-tucks running on roads and byroads blaring out music to signal their presence mostly at dawn are a common sight in the country today.

Timely jump saved his bacon

A Diyawanna member who had reportedly escaped from being hauled before the FCID by making a timely political pole-vault has become the butt of much teasing by his colleagues at the council lobby and the library, they say.

He breathed the longest sigh of relief in life

The former strongman the other day attended the funeral of a family member of a politico holding a very high position in the Diyawanna council. 

Political power is their panacea

Two Diyawanna members of the Pohottuwa camp representing an area in the country’s backwoods had privately met the Yahapalanaya Number One on two separate occasions quite recently.

Being liberal with public funds

It is not unusual for the Ministries and statutory bodies to print diaries and calendars for distribution among well-wishers and clients as a token of goodwill. However, a Ministry handling public funds is said to have brought out a diary for 2017 at an unusually heavy cost, they say. 

Advice that amazed them

A purohita handling a key portfolio had a ceremony held in his office to mark the resumption of duties for the new year 2017.

Steering by stars

Prominent astrologers here and in India are said to be having brisk business these days.

Winning votes the easy way

A high-up of a statutory body looking after air traffic had presented a New Year gift with a difference to their purohita at the top table. 

Clear picture by mid-January

Politics in the country appears to have run into a turbulent time with the dawn of New Year 2017.  Amid street protests and demonstrations creating a tense atmosphere, verbal duels within the yahapalanaya and talk about crossovers and resignations in the offing, have given rise to much confusion and uncertainty in the polity.