PATNA: The ministerial bungalow that Manju Verma, who was forced to resign as Bihar social welfare minister, has been occupying is considered a "politically jinxed" building and address, particularly for politicians belonging to a certain caste.
Verma is the third minister living at the 6, Strand Road bungalow whose term in the Bihar Cabinet was cut short abruptly. In previous years, two other ministers occupying the house - JD(U)'s Awadhesh Kushwaha and RJD's Alok Mehta - had to lose their Cabinet berths midway.
Like Verma, who put in her papers after her husband's name came up in the Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal, Kushwaha and Mehta belong to the politically influential OBC Kushwaha caste.
The bungalow at 6, Strand Road, also known as Netaji Subhas Marg, is a sprawling building with modern amenities and enough open space that is often demanded by politicians soon after they bag a ministerial berth. But after 50-year-old Verma's resignation, political circles in Patna are abuzz with talk that the building is jinxed, especially for Kushwaha politicians.
"The way three Kushwaha ministers occupying that building failed to complete their terms indicates that this is a politically jinxed property. No minister would now want to occupy this bungalow, certainly none from the Kushwaha caste," said a senior JD(U) leader.
Manju Verma was the only woman minister in the Nitish Kumar Cabinet, but her position was shaky after the shelter home scandal surfaced. Subsequently, Nitish asked her to resign on Wednesday.
JD(U) leader Awadhesh Kushwaha, who was excise minister, had to resign just before the Assembly polls in 2015 when a sting operation purportedly showed him accepting money. Similarly, RJD's Alok Mehta, who served as minister for cooperatives in the Grand Alliance government, lost his berth in July 2017 when Nitish dramatically pulled the JD(U) out of the alliance and formed a government with the BJP.
Meanwhile, the social welfare department was allotted to education minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma as an additional charge. With the JD(U) keen on keeping the Kushwahas in good humour, sources said another politician from the caste would soon be given the portfolio.