india

Updated: Jun 29, 2020 06:33 IST

Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday claimed that PM Narendra Modi brought “bad luck” when he stepped into the Indian Space Research Organisation’s premises in Bengaluru.

Kumaraswamy suggested PM Modi’s presence as the reason behind Isro losing contact with Chandrayaan 2’s Vikram Lander in the early hours of September 7.

“He came to portray it as if he himself was landing Chandrayaan 2, even though it was scientists who worked hard on this for 10-12 years, and Cabinet approval for the project was given in 2008-09. He came here to try and claim that the moon mission began because of him. I don’t know, but maybe the his stepping into the Isro centre brought bad luck to scientists,” Kumaraswamy told reporters in Mysuru.

The reference was to Prime Minister Modi’s presence at the Isro’s space centre to watch the Moon landing, the first soft landing attempted by India. However, the Vikram lander, lost contact with the orbiter when it was about 2.1 km from the moon’s surface.

The space centre had officially confirmed on Tuesday that Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter, which is going around the moon at an altitude of about 100km from the surface, has located the Vikram lander.

Isro scientists have been trying to re-establish contact with the lander.

The space agency said last week it would try to re-establish communication with Vikram for 14 days, which is the mission life of the lander. It said the mission has achieved 90-95% of its objectives and would contribute to lunar science.