[Sunday Goz]

Poonam rocks!

Some high-flying politicos and biz bigwigs were highly excited about the arrival of controversial Bollywood damsel Poonam Pandey who is set to perform at a high-end casino in Colombo over the weekend.

The actress, who once promised to pose nude for a photo-shoot to celebrate India’s cricket World Cup win some years ago, has already ignited passions in Colombo’s political and biz circles with many bigwigs investing cash lavishly to reserve their places at her show. It is still not entirely clear as to when Poonam will fly back to India though this is the million-dollar question among those who threw in money for the show. The film star only said she was going to ‘party’ for a few minutes with her Lankan fans at the casino and nothing else!

Birthday camaraderie

The mutual cake-feeding moment between the Prez and the Premier fascinated those who were present at the tea party to mark the Premier’s birthday at Temple Trees. The camaraderie between the two leaders was clearly visible when they used the same spoon to feed each other and everyone present at the tea party was highly excited about it.

However, one senior minister from Kurunegala, a long-standing ally of the Premier, was noticeably more excited than others and he went on to remark on the clearly warm friendship between the two leaders. Picking up on this remark, another young politico observed that “These photographs should be framed and sent to Medamulana,” as that would send a strong message to the deposed king of Medamulana.

Police chief race

Although some assumed that the Police Chief contest would be a one horse race, rumours emanating from the corridors of the Police HQ said there were three strong contenders for the title. While Wickrama-singer, the Prez’s security head and a Polonnaruwa boy, still remains the front-runner, another two names have also appeared at the last moment.

Among them is Pooh-jitha, a dynamic and a charismatic senior officer who was sidelined under the Rajapaksa rule for undisclosed reasons.

Even though Wickrama-singer is the most senior candidate in the race, one thing that might stand in his way is his affiliation with the deposed king when the latter was in power. Before switching allegiance shortly after the Prez polls, Wickrama-singer was in charge of the deposed king’s security.

The Constitutional Council, the highly powered body calling the shots on all the top posts, is to make a decision next week on the Police Chief and the name of the suitable candidate will be forwarded to the Prez before the official announcement.

- Voyeur