Patna: Next time a minister is allotted the bungalow on 6 Strand Road, also known as 6 Netaji Subhas Marg, he or she might develop cold feet. Reason? At least three ministers who lived at the address could not complete their term. It gets even more interesting if one factors in that the three aforementioned ministers belonged to the Kushwaha community.

Bihar excise minister Awadesh Kushwaha was staying at the bungalow when a sting operation showed him taking money ahead of the 2015 Assembly polls. He could not complete his tenure as minister and had to step down and vacate the bungalow. The next leader to live there was Alok Mehta of the RJD, who served as co-operative department minister in the Grand Alliance government. Even he belonged to the Kushwaha community. The latest to go is social welfare department minister Manju Verma, who resigned in the Muzaffapur mass rape case on Wednesday.

"It seems the 6 Strand Road bungalow is inauspicious for people of the Kushwaha community as well as for those who shift there after becoming minister," said a senior leader who is also a minister on the condition of anonymity. "The last three ministers who stayed there could not complete their term as minister. Seeing the past record, I had this feeling that even Manju would not be able to complete her term."

Awadesh was about to complete his term when the sting operation came into the public domain whereas Alok Mehta's term ended prematurely after Nitish logged out of the Grand Alliance to form a new government with the NDA.

Mehta stayed at the 6 Strand Road bungalow for just 18 months, while Manju, the only woman minister in Nitish's cabinet, survived their for less than a year.

Mehta disagreed with the view that the bungalow was inauspicious. "I won't say the bungalow on 6 Strand Road is inauspicious," Mehta said. "It was bound to happen so it happened. You cannot do anything. It is just a coincidence."

A senior JDU leader said next time a minister is allotted the bungalow on 6 Strand Road, he or she will think twice before entering it.

Among other occupants of the bungalow was former Jharkhand Assembly speaker Inder Singh Namdhari.

He used to stay in the bungalow when he was Bihar transport minister before Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000.