Superstition

Curtains for Your Political Career

Haima Deshpande | 15 May, 2013

The renovation jinx of Maharashtra politicians

MUMBAI ~ A close link is being established between office renovation and the careers of some Maharashtra politicians. Despite taking the advice of the best Vaastu consultants, several ministers and leaders have lost their jobs post refurbishing. This theory is being fuelled by the ongoing renovation of Mantralaya, the administrative headquarters of the state which was gutted in a fire in June last year.

Those happiest with the renovation are BJP politicians. The party’s former state unit president, Sudhir Mungantiwar, feels that the days of the 13-year-old Congress-NCP led government are numbered and they will lose the 2014 elections. His analysis is not based on any prevalent anti-incumbency sentiment or opinion polls. It is the renovation, he believes, that will prove unlucky for this government.

To illustrate his point, Mungantiwar states his own case. After he took over as the BJP’s state unit president, he decided to get a new look for the party’s regional headquarters. This was undertaken to make the office more spacious for activities that would signal the countdown to the parliamentary and Assembly polls slated for next year. “I lost my job after the renovation,” he says. “When Nitin Gadkari was the national president of the party, he too got the BJP office in New Delhi redone. See, he too lost his job. Now Mantralaya is being renovated and it is time for this government to go.”

His theory finds many takers. Past examples reinforce his thoughts. When Narayan Rane was Opposition leader during his Shiv Sena days, Feng Shui experts were called in to ‘realign energies’ in his Vidhan Bhavan office. He lost his job and defected to the Congress. Some months ago, NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, in consultation with Vaastu experts, renovated his office at Mantralaya. Following allegations of kickbacks in irrigation projects, he resigned from all posts. But he did return as Deputy CM after some months.

It will now take a resounding victory by the ruling alliance to debunk this theory.