Bungalow no.18: Haunted for Rajasthan politicians or just a superstition?

Jaipur: Can you believe that even in this era of science and technology, those who have been given the mandate to write the destiny of millions of Indians are besotted with superstition? The political circles in Rajasthan are agog with discussion over the haunted nature of Bungalow No. 18 at Civil Lines meant for ministers of Rajasthan government. Politicians are no longer willing to reside in this bungalow because some of its previous occupants failed to make a comeback to the assembly. The list of such politicians is very long and spread across last two decades. The latest entrant to this list is the former dairy minister Babu Lal Gaur who was recently arrested by the CBI on charges of raping a married woman under the pretext of getting her a government job. Nagar's immediate predecessor was the then UDH minister in the Vasundhara Raje government,Pratap Singh Singhvi. The BJP leader Singhvi shifted to the bungalow in 2003 despite his supporters cautioning him against it. Singhvi lost the 2008 assembly election from Kotas Chhabra to a relatively new comer in Congress,Karan Singh Rathore. Before Singhvi, the house was occupied by Jaipur MP Mahesh Joshi, who was also Congress chief whip in the previous Ashok Gehlot government (1998-2003 ). Joshi,too,was sounded out about the ill omen associated with bungalow No 18.The young legislator moved in rubbishing the apprehensions. Joshi lost assembly election from Kishanpole by a margin of around 7000 votes. Even before Mahesh Joshi, Mangla Ram koli was occupying this bungalow. Koli was a UDH minister in the then Bhairon Singh Shekhawat government from 1993-1998. Koli was an Independent legislator from Kathumar and was made a minister for supporting the Shekhawat government. Koli contested the 1998 assembly election on a BJP ticket and lost. Hari Kumar Audichya , the then education minister, also used to live in this bungalow from 1990 and 1993. Even Audichya lost the next assembly election from Ramganj-Mandi constituency. The question is – should victory or loss in an election be attributed to the bungalow in which that politician is residing? Will it not be better if political wins and losses are analysed on the basis of the performance of that politician?