Lankan currency notes traced back to a Lankan

The recent news story that a huge amount of money in our country’s currency was among the valuables found in the treasure trove unearthed from a private residence of the ousted Malay high political authority raised many eyebrows in our country.

Some Greens had gone yellow

The Green backbenchers had, the other day, rendezvoused to take a vital decision.

Popular game’s main chair up for grabs

The election of new office-bearers for the body controlling the country’s popular game is due on May 31 and several big names in the game have entered the fray for the main chair, they say.

A clash of Titans again

There is a tug-o-war going on over the appointment of a chair of a powerful commission handling the country’s finances, they say.

Finally, he had to deny what was correct

When Number One found that a large regiment was getting ready to accompany a certain purohita due to leave for an international conference held overseas, he pruned the number by a one-third. 

Number One intervened to end the deadlock

The white-collar ones handling immigration and emigration launched a ‘work-to-rule’ recently. 

Antics of a crony

There is a sidekick of a powerful purohita having his political base in Digamadulla and he is said to have once aimed a kick at the chair of a woman white-collar high-up at divisional level in a bid to win brownie points from his master.

Another case of criminal waste of public funds

It has come to light that a former purohita, a typical political turncoat from the upcountry, had spent some Rs.20 million on converting to his Ministry office a three-storey building taken on rent.

Political clout blocks road development

The development work on the Alawwa–Dambulla highway has come to a standstill due to a three-storied building standing in the way defying demolition, they say. 

They all had one for the road

There is a PC, whose current lease is to end in another three months and its politicos and white-collar ones had a good time the other day at a grand bash held at a five-star hotel in Dambulla under the pretext of holding a workshop, they say.  

Metal quarry makes their life a nightmare

Residents in several villages north of the upcountry main city have become victims of sound pollution and lung disease because of a metal quarry now being operated in the area by a close buddy of a very powerful political authority, they say.

Young one’s request carried more weight

This senior politico is known to all in political circles as a very close buddy of a high political authority. However, he is said to be giving the high authority a wide berth these days. 

A foretaste of what is to come

Given several polls round the corner, this senior Green party purohita recently visited his electorate to say howdy to his voters, but he got an unexpected hostile reception from them, they say. 

True colours revealed only after retirement

A certain high-up retired about one year ago from a service conspicuous by its Dharmachakra emblem is said to be facing charges that he had secured his appointment as well as his promotions to high posts on the strength of fraudulent documents. 

Common candidate in the making

A certain civil society group is said to be looking for a suitable person to be fielded as the common candidate at the big poll due in less than two years. A foreign diplomat too is behind this group.

They have only gone hush-hush

The Green backbenchers who quite boldly and openly campaigned for radical party reforms in the recent past suddenly went into the silent mode. However, they have not given up the struggle and are planning hush hush their way forward, they say.

Waiting for the right time

When a large majority of Pohottuwa is for putting forward the military sibling, the onetime power behind the throne, as their candidate at the coming big poll, some party bigwigs continue to mention other names in this connection causing confusion among the rank and file, they say.

A retirement that became a joke

The department responsible for maintaining law and order has been coming into public focus now and again due to the queer things happening in it for some time.

Tug-o-war over their political future

A few politicos of the Group of 16 that crossed over to the opposition recently are said to be embroiled in a polemical row.

His bluster was in vain

A gangling deputy from an area North of the upcountry main city went gung ho in the recent past and began taking potshots at his leader practically from every political platform. His grouse was that the boss failed to concede a place in the top team for a deserving one from his district. Of course, he meant himself when he referred to “a deserving one”.

He has fallen between two stools

There is a certain character who happens to be a long-standing spokesman for those employed in the Samurdhi department in the country. An activist of Pohottuwa from its very inception, the man is now a provincial council member having his political base in an area close to the city. 

A duo indefinitely in ‘Siberia’

There are two former administrative heads of a certain main city council who held office during two consecutive periods now facing charges of misconduct and misappropriation of council funds. Relieved of their duties after charges being slapped on them, the duo has been assigned to ‘Siberia’ in the council pending disciplinary inquiry. 

High cost doesn’t matter to him

This person who took over a Ministry newly constituted combining two separate portfolios, has planned to shift all his Ministry offices to a building with a lesser floor space but for a much higher monthly rental.

Charity begins at home

A politico who recently got a new portfolio has appointed his own son as the head of a key state establishment coming under his purview.

This one too is more equal than others

This strange case of granting compulsory leave with half pay to a service high-up facing murder charges now confined to a state-run lodge, has raised many eyebrows in political circles and the public domain.

Voicing his opinion cost him his job

A leading political authority sacked a white-collar high-up handling development projects for expressing his opinion that a monetary allocation made for funding certain projects in a backward district is unreasonably excessive, they say.

Never had a trip by the bus meant for them

A political authority had provided a bus to a zonal education office in a highly uncongenial area in the country for the express purpose of taking school children on educational trips.

He is kept down for the other to be up

A certain prominent purohita is said to have made a desperate appeal to his boss not to offer a deputy or state level subject to a very popular Diyawanna member in his district. 

They had their fun after all

A regiment of henchmen of a prominent politico who checked into a high-end hotel for a good time after attending a religious ceremony at the periphery had looked for another hotel with better comforts to spend the next day, they say..

Her sanctum burnt down

A mysterious fire has destroyed the outhouse where the Rajarata sorceress cum soothsayer well-known as ‘Penakiyana-maani’ practiced her occult crafts, they say.