Of supernatural influencers

The spacious and palatial bungalows in Lutyen’s Delhi have a long list of takers. The scarcity of the houses has compelled politicians to take possession of whatever has been allotted to them by the Housing Committee of Parliament even if the bungalows have a ghostly appearance and hitherto had no takers. The first time Cabinet Ministers are in search of good houses and Home Minister Amit Shah has zeroed in on 6A, Krishna Menon Marg, which was earlier occupied by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He lived here for 14 years. His family had vacated the house in November 2018. Before Vajpayee, the veteran leader from Tamil Nadu Murasoli Maran used to live here. When Vajpayee moved here, the number of the house was changed from 6 to 6A as some suggested to Vajpayee family to remove the jinx on the house. Recently, former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley vacated 2, Krishna Menon Marg and shifted to his Greater Kailash house. The buzz is that the house does not possess good omens as when former Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde used to live here, he was diagnosed with cancer; he vacated the house and recovered from the disease. Another jinxed house is said to be 2A, Motilal Nehru Marg: Amitabh Bachchan used to live there as Member of Parliament and grappled with the Bofors controversy; former Foreign Minister Madhav Singh Solanki was trapped in a controversy and had to resign; and, former controversial Communication Minister A. Raja could not save himself and had to go to jail. There are also good omen houses like 5 Mahadev Road: Whosoever takes possession of the said house sooner or later becomes a Minister in the cabinet but if an occupant doesn’t vacate the house at the time of the declaration of the elections to the Lok Sabha, the occupant never wins an election again. Then there is 15, Pant Marg Lane for which there are very few takers as many occupants have met with an accident, got sick or could not complete the term. So, if you are a Member of Parliament and searching for a house, just check its antecedents first.