18 legislators died since 1996

Bhopal, Feb 12: With the death of young minister Laxman Singh Gaud in a freak car accident in Dewas, the number of legislators died since 1996 reached to 18. This has once again led to the superstition that the assembly building's design is faulty. Gaud became sixth BJP MLA to have lost life in the current assembly whose five-year term will be ending in November 2008.

Former Assembly speaker Sriniwas Tiwari who was in the office from 1996 to 2004, had had organized a yagna in the year 2000 in the belief that its construction and layout was responsible for the death of many legislators. He said his move to perform yagna was to atone for a lapse. He claimed that no puja was performed when the building was operationalized in 1996. It was a glaring lapse, thus I thought of performing puja in the premises puja which people feel was yagna”

Vijayvargiya believes each year one or more sitting MLAs have been dying only due to faulty Vastu of the building. Vastu experts believe that the assembly building has flaws as Vastu rules and attracts negative energy. Vastu expert Vivek Mishra says there are several faults including road on one side, and the main entry is from South-West direction. In addition, the Assembly is in circular shape, which according to Vastu science is not considered good. Another Vastu expert Pankaj Agrawal had in the year 2006 prepared a 46-page report suggesting 28 changes in the assembly building.