A scramble to get the top post!

An astrological operation is said to have been launched by several khaki department high-ups in a bid to secure the main chair in the khaki department which is about to fall vacant. 

The high-ups having a covetous eye on this chair are said to be engaged in this exercise unknown to each other! 

For example, a keen aspirant to this position has secretly obtained the horoscopes of some rivals of his and having shown them to an astrologer had asked him whether these rivals would retire on time or whether they would continue in service after getting a service extension! And this exercise had leaked out shortly afterwards, they say. 

Meanwhile, the occupants of the second and third top chairs of the khaki department have reportedly consulted a lady astrologer who recently arrived here from Down Under about the next possible occupant of the department’s main chair!

Another two groups of aspirants are said to have visited Anuradhapura and Kataragama respectively to seek the blessings of the deities!

By the way, it has come to light that yet another khaki bigwig  who was due to retire by last December 31 had built a mini-devalaya within his residential premises, installed the statues of a pantheon of deities and had offered poojas for several months praying for both a service extension and another promotion to the higher rank before his retirement! However, his effort had gone haywire, they say. 

What is more interesting is that this high-up had demolished the mini-devalaya and destroyed the statues of the deities when his prayer went unanswered, they say. 

The government bigwigs are said to be well aware that several khaki suit high-ups in the running for the highest post are seeking it through poojas and prayers to deities and a development that may shock them is in the offing, knowledgeable sources say.