Curse of the southernmost tip of K’taka?

The district of Chamarajanagara is the southernmost tip of Karnataka bordering Tamil Nadu and the famed Male Madheswara Hills (notable for its Shivaite temple as well as being the occasional hideout for notorious dacoit Veerapan). Despite its proximity to Mysuru, the erstwhile state capital, Chamarajanagara is one of the more backward districts.

Chamarajanagara has another notoriety attached to it. A number of politicians believe that visiting Charmarajnagara leads them to lose power which is why they avoid it. This superstition started after Devaraj Urs, then a powerful CM, visited the place and lost. So last week when PM Modi addressed a rally in Santhemarahalli, 15km on the outskirts of Chamarajanagara, it set tongues wagging.

Urs wasn’t the only one to fall to the jinx. Gundu Rao, Ramakrishna Hegde, SR Bommai and Veerandra Patil, all lost after visiting Chamarajanagara. Such was the fear that when Chamarajanagara was carved out as a separate district from Mysuru, its inauguration by a supposedly ‘rationalist’ then CM of Karnataka JH Patel was done from the safe confines of MM Hills.

The reason this curse has now been brought up is that chief minister Siddaramaiah has taunted Modi that he is superstitious and thus chose to address a rally on the outskirts.

However, BJP leaders say the location was chosen as they wanted the Prime Minister to impact adjoining Mandya and Mysuru districts too.