Our ‘homeless’ CM Bommai

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai discharges his official duties from four different locations in Bengaluru, creating a logistical nightmare for the government machinery and putting the already stretched police force under further stress. This arrangement inconveniences Bommai himself, but he has no other option -- because his predecessor B S Yediyurappa continues to occupy the official residence of the Chief Minister, Cauvery, more than a year after he demitted office.

For the record, and strangely so, Karnataka does not have an officially designated Chief Minister’s residence. However, two buildings on Kumara Krupa Road, Cauvery, the dwelling unit, and Krishna, the home-office, which are adjacent each other, have long been regarded as the Chief Minister’s residential complex.

Both, Bommai’s private house at RT Nagar, where he continues to reside even after assuming office, and the government bungalow allotted to him on Race Course Road, are unsuitable to accommodate the Chief Minister, given space and other constraints. Thus, Bommai is forced to shuttle between RT Nagar, the government-allotted house, Vidhana Soudha and Krishna, depending on the nature of his meetings. Earlier, the commute would be only between the residential complex and Vidhana Soudha.

Technically, Yediyurappa is not entitled to occupy Cauvery or for that matter any other government accommodation because he does not hold an official post, other than being an MLA. The government, however, got around this by allotting the residence to Revenue Minister R Ashoka, who allowed Yediyurappa to stay on.

This unhealthy trend of latching on to Cauvery long after their tenure ended was started by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who did not vacate the bungalow for over a year after his government was voted out in 2018. Siddaramaiah, who like Yediyurappa was not entitled to official accommodation, continued to live in the house after getting it allotted in the name of K J George, who was a cabinet minister in the JD(S)-Congress government led by H D Kumaraswamy.

In the absence of another suitable accommodation in the vicinity of Vidhana Soudha, Kumaraswamy shifted to a cottage at Taj West End for his entire term as Chief Minister, at his own cost.

In 2019, Yediyurappa returned as Chief Minister after bringing down the Kumaraswamy government by engineering defections. Yediyurappa who during his earlier term had stayed in a government house opposite Race Course, which he considered lucky, decided to shift to Cauvery this time, forcing Siddaramaiah to vacate.

Gundu Rao, who became Chief Minister in 1980, was the first to occupy Cauvery. His predecessors had chosen between Carlton House, Crescent House, Park House and Balabroohie, all British-era buildings. Ramakrishna Hegde, who succeeded Rao, operated from his personal residence, Krithika, in Rajmahal Vilas Extension.

The next Chief Minister, and the current CM’s father, S R Bommai, shifted to Balabroohie in 1988, but lost power soon after. This building was later converted into a guesthouse as all subsequent Chief Ministers regarded it as inauspicious. Thereon, Chief Ministers have been alternating between Cauvery and the building next door, Anugraha. No resident of Anugraha, except S M Krishna, has completed his term either, and hence this house too has been shunned by Chief Ministers for about a decade now.

Though Chief Ministers who have stayed in Cauvery too have not completed their five-year term, except for Siddaramaiah, there is no negative tag attached to the house for some reason. Rather, it is seen as lucky by many. But superstitions aside, it is only fair that one should promptly vacate the official residence of the CM upon losing that post and make way for his/her successor. Senior leaders like Siddaramaiah and Yediyurappa should be setting a good example, not a bad precedent.