Minister breaks jinx, moves into 6, Kalidas Marg on Ram Navami
LUCKNOW: Known for bringing ill-luck to its VVIP inmates, the bungalow adjacent to the official residence of Uttar Pradesh chief minister got a new occupant on Wednesday.
UP’s minister for minor irrigation and livestock, SPS Baghel, moved in to 6 Kalidas Marg bungalow after a special puja on Ram Navami.
Sandwiched between the CM’s official residence and that of the deputy chief minister, the bungalow has a reputation that its occupants either fade into political oblivion or meet with some kind of misfortune.
No minister in the Yogi Adityanath government had shown interest in moving in the bungalow so far until Baghel asked the estate department to allot it to him.
“All those who went to jail would have gone there anyway. It’s not the house but deeds that determine one’s fate...” he said.
Previous political occupants of 6 Kalidas Marg were Amar Singh, Waqar Ahmad Shah, Babu Singh Kushwaha with Javed Abidi being its last occupant. Abidi was sacked as chairman of UP pollution control board within months of moving in. Babu Singh Kushwaha who was a minister in the BSP regime, got named in the multi-crore NRHM scam and was eventually jailed.
Waqar Ahmad Shah took ill soon after moving in. He never returned back to work after slipping into coma.
Bureaucrats Neera Yadav and Pradeep Shukla who lived here had to go to jail. But Baghel’s friends and well-wishers are confident that the Yogi minister would beat the jinx.