Beware the steps of Vidhan Soudha: No CM who took oath here has completed his term

There was the Chamundeshwari jinx that was spoken about during the Karnataka assembly elections. Now the new jinx that everyone is speaking about is the one relatiing to taking oath at the Vidhan Soudha.

H D Kumaraswamy would take oath as Chief Minister on the steps of the Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru today at 4.30 pm. It is said that no chief minister who has taken oath at Vidhan Soudha has completed his term. In Karnataka's history only Devraj Urs and Siddaramaiah have completed a full five year term. Urs and Siddaramaiah had taken oath at the Raj Bhavan and Kanteerava Stadium respectively.

Oath taking ceremonies were not a grand affair in the past. The oath was always administered at the Glass House, Raj Bhavan by the Governor. The first time the ceremony was held in the Vidhan Soudha was in 1983 when Ramakrishna Hegde was sworn in as the CM.

Hegde before a completing a year in office stepped down after the Karnataka High Court pulled up his government for the manner in which he handled the arrack bottling contracts. He however withdrew his resignation three days later. In 1988, he stepped down as CM after allegations of phone tapping surfaced. He was succeeded by S R Bommai.

In 1990, S Bangarappa who replaced Veerendra Patil took oath on the steps of Vidhan Soudha, which houses the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. He however was replaced two years later by Veerappa Moily due to his failure of handling the Cauvery riots.

The next CM to take oath on the steps of Vidhan Soudha was S M Krishna. He too did not complete his term as he decided to advance the elections.

In 2004 it was the turn of N Dharam Singh who formed a government with the JD(S). He survived in office for 2 years only after the JD(S) pulled out support. That year the JD(S) faction led by H D Kumaraswamy decided to support the BJP and form the government.

After forming an alliance with the BJP, Kumaraswamy took oath as CM on the steps of the Vidhan Soudha. His term ended after 20 months owing to a term sharing pact with the BJP. B S Yeddyurappa then took oath as the CM on the same steps, but stepped down in seven days after the JD(S) refused to continue support.

In 2008, Yeddyurappa came to power and took oath on the steps of the Vidhan Soudha. He was however forced to step down three years later following the report on illegal mining.