Chief Minister H D Kumaraswa-my’s so-called jinx-breaking visit to Chamarajanagar district had a rough start on Sunday as the helicopter carrying him and his entourage force-landed in strong wind and rain at Yeriyur tank bund, some 12 km away from the helipad.
“The chief minister and others are safe,” Chamarajanagar district superintendent of police Srikantappa said. However, Mr Kumaraswamy and other occupants of the chopper, including MLAs Puttaraju and Anil Lad, had to spend more than an hour and a half in no-man’s land, before the officials of the district administration were able to trace and reach them with help.
The chief minister and his men who had left Udupi at 3.30 pm by helicopter, were scheduled to arrive at Vaddagere and proceed towards Biligiri Rangana Betta (BR Hills) at 4.45 pm.
But, the lashing rains and strong winds forced the helicopter to land on a slushy field close to Yeriyur lake, which is 12 km away from Vaddagere. The district administration tried tracing them in vain since the CM and others did not know where they had landed. The CM’s media secretary H B Dinesh told the officials that they had “landed at some lake.”
The officials launched a frantic search in the area without definite leads. Some of the members did come close to Yeriyur lake. But the helicopter was not seen.
After a long search of most lakes in the area, SP Srikantappa and minister D T Jayakumar spotted the helicopter but could not reach the CM’s party in distress since the lake was filled with water from the end they were approaching. It was nearly dark when Mr Kumaraswamy and others were rescued. They later proceeded by car to BR Hills. 
After the rains stopped, the helicopter was taken to Mysore around 7 pm.  By then, amused by the sight of the helicopter near the lake, curious farmers in the fields found the CM and his men sitting inside.  A crowd gathered near the helicopter in no time and and finding Mr Kumaraswamy at such leisure held long chats with him.

Relief at last
Finally, Mr Kumaraswamy along with Puttaraju, and Anil Lad arrived at BR Hills at 7.15 pm. District administration heaved a sigh of releif and so did villagers of Chamarajanagar who went close to the jinx again.
For 16 long years, no serving chief minister has visited Chamarajanagar town for the fear of losing power within six months of such visits. Devraj Urs, Ramakrishna Hegde and Veerendra Patil had coincidentally lost power, leading to the superstitious belief.