By-poll loss: Has Yogi Adityanath fallen to the Noida jinx?

Has Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister fallen to the Noida jinx? The losses at Gorakhpur, Phulpur and now Kairana has led to many asking whether the Noida jinx has caught up to Yogi Adityanath.

Yogi took part in the inauguration of the 12.64-km Kalkaji Mandir-Botanical Garden section of the Magenta Line in Noida on December 25, beating the myth of the 'Noida jinx', which has kept several former CMs away from the city.

The story goes that whoever visits Noida in the course of their terms loses their chance of being re-elected to the post. The 'Noida jinx' has been a metaphor for bad luck for Uttar Pradesh chief ministers since 1988, when Vir Bahadur Singh came visiting and then lost the elections.

Whether BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or Samajwadi Party (SP), all UP chief ministers have avoided visiting this area, as it is believed that whoever did so would lose power.

In his five-year term, Yogi's predecessor Akhilesh Yadav stayed away. Considered the modern face of his Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh used video links to inaugurate or launch projects in Noida, which has emerged as the residential hub for the middle-class priced out of Delhi.

Akhilesh was only doing what his predecessors, including his father Mulayam Singh and BJP's Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh, did. The so-called Noida jinx took root after chief minister Veer Bahadur Singh had to step down in June 1988 a few days after he returned from Noida. Earlier, in 1989, N D Tiwari and 10 years later, in 1999, Kalyan Singh suffered the same fate. In 1995, Mulayam was out of power within months of his Noida visit. The last one was Mayawati, who lost power in 2012 assembly elections after she flew down to Noida in October 2011 to inaugurate the Dalit Prerna Sthal.