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A house for Mr Krishna

M D Riti in Bangalore

When Karnataka Chief Minister Somanahalli Mallayya Krishna moves house next week, the residents of Rajamahal Vilas will heave a collective sigh of relief. Residents of this distinctly upper-class neighbourhood have been finding the police vans, patrol vehicles, crowds of supplicants and the numerous street vendors who cater to them all quite irksome. Not to mention Krishna's kind act of permanently blocking off a large segment of the 2nd Crossroad with a shamiana.

Every chief minister of Karnataka until now has jumped at the opportunity to move into an official residence, barring one. Only Ramakrishna Hegde chose to stay on in his own house, 'Kritika', on the busy C V Raman Road. However, the monstrous road humps that he put up on both sides of his gate are in place even now, slowing down traffic on the busy highway.

The house that Krishna will move into is not the one vacated by his predecessor J H Patel. It was actually occupied by H D Deve Gowda until recently. This house, which is named 'Anugraha', became Deve Gowda's home when he became chief minister of Karnataka after the 1994 elections. When he moved to Delhi to take charge as the prime minister, his son H D Revanna, whom he subsequently made a minister in Karnataka, continued to live in that house.

Deve Gowda himself told the state government that he wanted the house for his use whenever he visited Bangalore.

When Deve Gowda came back to Bangalore after his short stint as the prime minister, he began staying at 'Anugraha', ostensibly for security reasons. Patel, meanwhile, lived in an equally spacious state government bungalow 'Cauvery', which had previously been used by Sarekoppa Bangarappa when he was chief minister of Karnataka from 1990 to 1992.

As soon as he and his sons faced humiliating defeats in the recently concluded elections, the Deve Gowdas moved out of 'Anugraha'.

Deve Gowda is now back in his daughter's house in Padmanabhanagar, where he used to live before he became chief minister. His son-in-law Dr Manjunath is possibly the best known cardiologist in Bangalore and used to drive around Bangalore in his Maruti 800 even when Deve Gowda was the prime minister.

Chief ministers after Hegde, including the three that the state saw during the last Congress regime from 1989 to 1994, all lived in one or the other of these two houses, mainly for security reasons, and also because they had easy access to 'Krishna' which is chief minister's home-office.

The main changes that Krishna has made in 'Anugraha', according to sources in his office, include re-positioning of the doors in accordance with Vastu. Now the house is being repainted, prior to Krishna moving in.

His officials place the estimated cost of these improvements at about Rs 1 million. According to rules, chief ministers and ministers are permitted Rs 500,000 a year for five years to redo their houses.

Krishna reportedly chose 'Anugraha' because he had lived here once before when he first became a minister in Devaraj Urs' government in 1972, with the portfolio of commerce, industries and parliamentary affairs. Krishna, who is known to be a great believer in Vastu, has got a north-facing door in his office suite in Vidhana Soudha locked.

Krishna will have his predecessor Patel as his neighbour, as the latter is still living in 'Cauvery'. Patel will stay there until his son's house, currently under construction, is ready. Once Patel moves out of 'Cauvery', assembly Speaker M V Venkatappa will move in.

'Anugraha' is equipped to handle the morning darshans that Deve Gowda and Moily used to give to common people.

However, Krishna has not yet announced whether he would resume this practice, which Patel had discontinued.

"He has already told us that he will be available to everyone by email and also through online chats from his office shortly," confides an official.

But for the kind of people who usually trek to the chief minister's house in Bangalore from all parts of the state, access to a computer is a distant dream.

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