Fear of losing power or bad weather? CM Yediyurappa skips Karwar visit

KARWAR: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa blamed bad weather for skipping is visit to Karwar on Saturday. But, the Karwar Congress and political observers said he feared the Karwar jinx — chief minister lost power within months of visiting the place.
The jinx allegedly started in 2004 when Congress CM Dharam Singh had to step down from the 20:20 government and has continued till the previous CM HD Kumaraswamy who was forced to step down from the coalition government.
Yediyurappa, who himself had to abdicate after visiting Karwar in November 2010, probably didn’t want to take any chance this time around.
On Saturday, Yediyurappa cancelled his visit at the last minute. As per the tour programme, he was to visit Karwar from Shivamogga by helicopter. He was to land at INS Kadamba naval base and then travel by road to Kadra where the maximum damage was caused due to release of water from Kali dam.
Karwar witnessed heavy rain on Friday night and Saturday. Cloudy weather and rain would have hampered the helicopter landing and the programme was cancelled, officials said. However, Congress block president Sameer Naik blamed the CM for being superstitious.
“The CM must end all speculation of him avoiding Karwar. A fortnight ago, he was in Udupi but didn’t come here. Previous CMs like Dharam Singh, Yediyurappa, Sadananda Gowda, Jagadeesh Shettar, Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy lost power within two months of visiting Karwar. Knowing this, the CM cancelled the tour,” said Naik.
This was Yediyurappa’s first visit to the district after becoming CM and the entire district administration had geared up for it. Many senior officials had arrived at Karwar. It’s estimated the cancellation has caused a loss of more than Rs 25 lakh to the exchequer.
The flood-affected families waiting for the CM and hoping for a relief packages were disappointed. Finally, in-charge secretary of Uttara Kannada district Munish Moudgil met officials and took stock of the situation.