Hyderabad, July 5: Astrology has no place in engineering and medicine, but when it comes to aspiring engineers and doctors, it is the stars that tell them what to do.

Counselling for admissions to engineering and medical courses in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to begin from July 14, was put off by a day on popular demand from students and their parents.

“The date was changed since the tithi (moon phase) is a dwadashi (12th day from full moon) and hence inauspicious. The programme was shifted to July 15, a trayodashi (13th day from full moon) and good to begin all major works and take decisions in life,” said an official.

“Although one day’s postponement does not affect the prospects of students, many of them said the schedules were very tight and would also have affected their travel plans,” said Osmania University’s Professor Krishnamurthy who is involved with the process of the Engineering and Medical Entrance Test.

Students are not the only ones gazing into crystal balls. Chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was guided by astrologers in choosing the day of his swearing-in, entering his office chamber, first news conference and expansion of his cabinet.

It appears that even his meeting with the World Bank was held according to the directions of his official stargazers. That the meeting did not bring much hope for the state government has been blamed on the 12 minutes’ delay in starting it as Reddy was held up at his first official interaction with the 42 MPs from the state.

“The World Bank meeting was scheduled from 13.15 hours to 14.30 hours on Saturday, July 3. Since he was delayed at the MPs’ meeting, the session with the World Bank started around 13.35 hours under the inauspicious Rahu kalam,” said an official.

The bureaucrats also left nothing to chance when they shifted offices with the change of government. The newcomers in the chief minister’s office held pujas while others given key positions in the Reddy regime offered pujas at various city temples before taking charge. The official stargazer, invariably their local pundit, assisted them in choosing the right muhurtam (moment) to enter their new offices.

A senior bureaucrat, who was transferred to public enterprise from transport, roads and buildings, took her faith in stars to the extreme. On the advice of her astrologer that she work in a uniform environment, she shifted not only her personal belongings but also computers and her assistants last week.

She was finally convinced by the chief secretary that except for a chair she used, the rest of the items must be returned to the parent department. “Even the chair was allowed purely on account of her grade and psychological reasons,” a source said.

A regular visitor to the NTR Trust Bhavan, the heart of the Telugu Desam Party’s activities, must have noticed a crystal ball on the mahogany table of party chief . Chandrababu Naidu. Though not a real crystal ball, it has always excited Naidu’s party workers.

Almost everyone, including senior ministers, felt that the former chief minister, who was ousted in the recent elections, had a look into the crystal ball before taking any serious decision. Party workers now say the crystal ball has turned blank.