Basavaraj Bommai visits ‘jinxed’ Karnataka dist ahead of polls, wins appreciation

Chamarajanagar (Karnataka) : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s visit to the supposedly “jinxed” district of Chamarajanagar in the state on Tuesday has won appreciation from progressive thinkers and netizens.

It is widely believed that whoever visits Chamarajanagar will lose their position and power in Karnataka. Most of the Chief Ministers, including B.S. Yediyurappa, S.M. Krishna and others, did not dare to step into the district during their tenures.

However, CM Bommai is visiting the district for the second time and inaugurating and laying foundation stones for various development projects. The blind belief started with the then Chief Minister D. Devaraj Urs losing his power after visiting Chamarajanagar.

Later, Chief Ministers late R. Gundu Rao, Ramakrishna Hegde, S.R. Bommai (CM Bommai’s father) and Veerendra Patil losing power after their visit to the district added to its fearful reputation. Devaraj Urs had lost power after becoming the CM for the second time in 1980.

Urs had visited Chamarajanagar before he lost power. Similarly, his predecessor Gundu Rao did not get elected in the elections. It was blamed on his visit to Chamarajanagar during the fag end of his tenure.

Ramakrishna Hegde became the CM and before he tendered his resignation in the telephone tapping scam, he visited Chamarajanagar. S.R. Bommai, who came to the position, lost power and the Presidential rule was implemented in 1989.

He had also paid a visit to Chamarajanagar district before this and the political circles, especially CMs started believing that if they visit Chamarajanagar, they will lose power. The real fear gripped politicians when Veerendra Patil, the Congress CM, who came to power with a thumping majority lost power following his visit to Chamarajanagar district in 1990.

The border district with many pilgrimage centers had to bear the tag of “jinxed” by politicians following the development. However, former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and Siddaramaiah during their tenures visited Chamarajanagar and failed to come back to power in the following elections.

CM Basavaraj Bommai is paying the visit to the jinxed district for the second time in his tenure and progressive thinkers and social media users are praising his gesture.