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Orissa CM's house has no takers

The plaque grandly declares it to be the residence of the Orissa chief minister but nobody resides here. Passers-by on this busy Raj Bhavan road can see the imposing double-storied building on the left, which lies deserted and forlorn!

Orissa does have a chief minister, in Hemananda Biswal, but he does not stay in the CM's official residence. The last occupant of this building was Giridhar Gamang, who made an unceremonious exit in December 1999 after a short and bitter 10-month rule. It was Gamang who followed the advice of Vaastu experts, closed the main gate and made many alterations in the building. But all that did not help him last more than ten months in office. He even got a voodoo man installed at the entrance who would recite some 'mantras' and bless Gamang whenever he stepped out of the building.

Gamang, after taking over in February 1999, took his own time to move into this house as he felt his predecessor J B Patnaik, a practitioner of tantricism, might have left behind evil spirits to haunt him! "Gamang was a believer in these things and he tried every means -- Vaastu, Tantra, puja -- to make the residence auspicious for him so he could have a long reign. But in the end everything was in vain," says a close aide of Gamang, adding that the former CM was convinced the house was jinxed.

The new incumbent, though apparently not a believer in things occult, chose to stay back in the house allotted to him as an MLA rather than move into the CM's residence for just four months. Biswal must know it would be extremely difficult for the Congress to make a comeback and perhaps did not want to jeopardise his chances further by occupying this supposedly 'jinxed' house.

Incidentally, only Patnaik has had a full tenure as chief minister, but then, when he became CM he continued to stay on in his own house rather than move into the official residence.

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