Mysuru: He may not believe in jinxes, but former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah certainly seems to believe in luck. He admitted on Saturday that he thought of Varuna as his lucky constituency.
“After I won from here for the first time, I became leader of the opposition and after winning the second time, I became Chief Minister. Had I contested from here again and won, I could have become Chief Minister for the second time,” he said, speaking at an event in Hoskote, Varuna constituency.
But he told the audience that he decided to contest from Chamundeswari constituency as he had opted for it much before the assembly elections.
He would have won from here too if his opponents had not worked against him, he claimed.
“I was the only Chief Minister from a backward class to complete five years in office after Devraj Urs. My opponents were jealous of me and feared I would come back as Chief Minister again and so they plotted my defeat. They joined together like Rahu, Ketu and Shani to defeat me in Chamundeswari. Had I contested from Varuna they would not have been able to defeat me,” he contended.
Although the people of Badami elected him, he would never forget the people of Varuna as they had even elected his son, Dr Yatindra by a huge margin, he added, pledging to support the development of the constituency as long as he was in politics.
During his stint as Chief Minster, Mr Siddaramaiah visited Chamarajanagar despite the jinx attached to it, several times. Most Chief Ministers have given the “jinxed constituency” a miss reportedly afraid of losing their gaddi.
Meanwhile, Housing Minister U T Khader said the government would build houses for people who had lost their homes during the recent floods and landslides in Kodagu at a cost of Rs 6 lakh each. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle after inaugurating the Dasara kite festival in Mysuru, he claimed the victims of the Kodagu disaster would be rehabilitated so well that it would be a model for the entire nation.
