NEW DELHI, May 1: It is the `raj jyotishis' who call the political shots today. What the Prime Minister may want or the President may fix has to give way before them. They determine when a swearing-in ceremony should take place. They decide which house a politician should occupy and when he should move in (or out). After the power-brokers, they are now the next most powerful group, except they still remain faceless. But it is only a matter of time before that changes. As for the politicians, one has to look only at the select group of former Prime Ministers to realise the extent to which stars and superstition guide their actions. Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda was told by his astrologers that he should first move back to the house from where he became Prime Minister - 5, Safdarjung Lane. The house was allotted to his son H D Kumaraswamy, a MP, when the father was Prime Minister because the house has been ``vaastu cleared''. The decision had come in for criticism and many had at the time questioned how Kumaraswamy, a first time MP, had been allotted a bungalow. The moment he lost the vote of confidence, Gowda is believed to have moved some of his belongings to his son's house. The `jyotishis' have ordained that May 8 is the auspicious date for the final move, and as advised by them, Gowda will move back to 5, Safdarjung Lane, on that day. There are indications that Gowda has selected 5, Kamaraj Road as the abode he will occupy after much consultations with the vaastu experts, though his secretariat has not yet confirmed this officially. The building, once occupied by Satyaprakash Malaviya, is dilapidated and has been used in recent months for purposes such as storage of old furniture. It will have to be renovated. Gowda, a firm believer of vaastu shastra (the astrology of architecture), had given Narasimha Rao only 12-hour notice before moving. After he took over as Prime Minister last June, he had initially told Rao that he could take a month to move out. Then one evening, he informed his predecessor that he would be moving in the next morning at the crack of dawn, and he would be conducting a pooja at 5, Race Course Road. The pundits suddenly found that the next day was the most auspicious one for him. As a result for some weeks, there was the extraordinary situation with Gowda occupying number 5 and Rao number 3, Race Course Road, simultaneously with both of them sharing a common entrance. (7, 5, & 3 Race Course Road have been used as the PM's official residence for some years now.) For Atal Behari Vajpayee, the defeat of Krishna Sahi in the last general elections could not have been more propitious. The moment she moved out of 7, Safdarjung Road, he, as a former Prime Minister, put in a request to move in there. Vajpayee occupied this house as the Foreign Minister during the Janata Party regime of 1977-79, a stint which brought him kudos. Then he moved out of this house to 6, Raisina Road, and the BJP hit the dismal tally of 2 in the 1984 elections under his stewardship. Though Vajpayee became PM from this house, the 13-day wonder of the BJP government did not last. It is not surprising that Vajpayee wanted to return to the house which had brought him good luck many years ago. For after all, mother fortune has to continue to smile at him if he has to enter the hallowed precincts of South Block again, and this time for a longer period, which he hopes to do the next time round. That was the story of P V Narasimha Rao also. When he demitted the office of the chief executive, he was told of many suitable houses lying vacant in Lutyen's Delhi. But his eyes were set on one and only 9, Motilal Nehru Marg. It was from this bungalow that he drove to occupy the seat of power on Raisina Hill from where he ruled for five years. And he chose to return to it. After being dethroned in 1990, Vishwanath Pratap Singh also opted to return to 1, Teen Murti Marg, the house from where he carried out his nationwide campaign against Rajiv Gandhi to make it to the country's topmost position. As for another former prime minister, Chandra Shekhar, he did not give up his lucky house 3, South Avenue Lane, even when he was PM. He would spend the day at the PM's official residence at Race Course Road but would return to the familiar environs of South Avenue in the evening.
