DEHRADUN: In Uttarakhand’s political circles, certain superstitions have gained traction over the years – one being that the party winning the Gangotri seat goes on to form the govt, and another that a chief minister residing in the official residence rarely completes a full term. Adding to this list is the belief that the R2 bungalow in Yamuna Colony – allocated to ministers, the speaker, and senior officials – has brought misfortune to its occupants.
Most recently, the bungalow was assigned to finance minister Premchand Aggarwal in 2022, who on Sunday, resigned after a controversy over his remark that the “state does not belong exclusively to the ‘pahadis’ (hill people)” during the budget session. This has only fuelled the perception of the house being “unlucky.”
Coincidence? Maybe. But the ‘jinx’ goes back to the tenure of the N D Tiwari-led Congress govt when the bungalow was allocated to then-irrigation minister Shoorveer Singh Sajwan. However, he had to step down after the Constitution (91st Amendment) Act, 2003, mandated that the “total number of ministers, including CM, in the council of ministers, shall not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the assembly.”
Recalling the episode, Mathura Dutt Joshi, a former Congress member now with BJP, told TOI, “Tiwari initially appointed 17 ministers in 2002. But after the amendment, he sought the resignation of all ministers and retained only 11. Sajwan, along with five others, including Kishore Upadhyay and Surendra Singh Negi, was left out. So, he could not complete his term.”
Between 2007 and 2012, the bungalow was allotted to then Congress MLA Harak Singh Rawat, who was then the leader of opposition. In 2016, while still in possession of the house, he defected to BJP but failed to complete his term. Later, when BJP came to office in 2017, he was made a minister. However, just before the 2022 assembly polls, he resigned from his ministerial post and rejoined Congress.
In 2022, Premchand Aggarwal was allotted the bungalow, but his resignation on Sunday has only added to its reputation. Previously, as speaker of the state assembly, Aggarwal had been given the official speaker’s residence, also located in Yamuna Colony.
Political analyst Jay Singh Rawat said, “While Harak Singh Rawat managed to complete five years in this bungalow as leader of opposition, every minister who has lived here has failed to serve a full term. It has now become somewhat of a political jinx. It remains to be seen who will be allotted this bungalow next.”
