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The Congress party moved its national headquarters at 24 Akbar Road in the national capital to a new address – Indira Bhawan at 9A, Kotla Road – on Wednesday.
The new, five-storied office was formally inaugurated by Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi in presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Member of Parliament (MP) Priyanka Gandhi, among others.
The 139-year-old party has spent 47 years out of the 24, Akbar Road headquarters in the national capital’s Lutyens Bungalow Zone (LBZ).
The new AICC headquarters is named after Indira Gandhi, India’s first woman Prime Minister. It symbolises the Congress party’s continuing mission to uphold the vision of its stalwarts, the party said.
The fifth floor of Indira Gandhi Bhawan will house the offices of Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The fourth floor will be used by the general secretaries. The state in-charges will occupy the third floor. The second floor will be used by all-India secretaries and their staff.
In 2005-06, after the Supreme Court asked political parties to move their registered offices out of the LBZ, the Union Government identified the area between New Delhi’s ITO (Income Tax Office) traffic junction and Connaught Place, with Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Marg connecting the two landmarks, for allotting land to political parties.
The national headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Marg is a walking distance from the Congress party's new address. The Congress party decided to have the front entrance of its new office on Kotla Road, instead of DDU Marg, named after Jana Sangh (later BJP) ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
The shift to a new address comes weeks ahead of assembly polls in the national capital.
The launch event on Wednesday brought together party leaders from across the country. About 400 top leaders were invited to attend the ceremony, including members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Presidents, Congress Legislative Party (CLP) Leaders, Members of Parliament (MPs), AICC secretaries, and joint secretaries.
“The Indira Bhawan is designed to meet the evolving needs of the party and its leaders, featuring modern facilities to support administrative, organisational, and strategic activities,” the party said last week.
The foundation stone for the new building was laid by former prime minister late Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, the then Congress president in December 2009. But it took the party 15 years to complete the construction of the building.
The Congress led by Indira Gandhi moved into 24, Akbar Road office in 1978 when the party was out of power first time since Independence. Indira Gandhi was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections after the Emergency.
The Congress had also split and the Indira group did not have an office. The then Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh, Gaddam Venkatswamy, offered his official residence —24, Akbar Road— to the party.
Although 24, Akbar Road, started out as a temporary arrangement, the Congress stayed on.
The Congress party’s office since independence was 7 Jantar Mantar Road. The party moved first to 5 Rajendra Prasad Road in 1971 before moving to 24 Akbar Road in 1978.
Indira Gandhi returned to power with a thumping majority in 1980. She refused to stake claim on the old party office, according to Rasheed Kidwai, the author of '24 Akbar Road'.
The spacious Akbar Road Bungalow is witness to party's highs and lows. The party registered victories in 1980, 1984, 1991, 2004 and 2009 while it worked out of this Type VII bungalows of Lutyens’ Delhi. It also saw the downfall of the Congress with the three consecutive defeats in Lok Sabha elections since 2014.
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