Congress moves to a new office today after 47 years

Congress moves to a new office today after 47 years

Congress moves to a new office today after 47 years BySaubhadra Chatterji Jan 15, 2025 02:00 AM IST Share Via Copy Link Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi will inaugurate the five-storey headquarters on Wednesday

The Congress will move its central office to 9A Kotla Road in New Delhi on Wednesday having spent 47 years at 24 Akbar Road — an address that had become synonymous with the 139-year-old party and witnessed a significant part of its recent history.

The 24 Akbar Road office had become synonymous with the Congress and witnessed a significant part of its recent history. (PTI)

Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi will inaugurate the five-storey headquarters on Wednesday, scripting a new chapter of the party that will shift out of Lutyens’ Delhi, weeks before the national capital goes to the assembly polls on February 5.

READ | 24 Akbar Road: A witness to India's history and Congress' journey through time

Congress functionaries said that Akbar Road’s open and welcoming environment with little restriction for the media and party workers will be severely curtailed in the new office.

According to two Congress leaders, the 9A Kotla Marg property over a two-acre plot will allow the media access only up to the ground floor—something its rival the BJP has implemented at its headquarters, which is a short distance away from the new Congress office.

The fifth floor of Indira Bhavan will house the offices of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

“All three offices will have large space, rooms for secretarial staff and a centralised air conditioning system,” a Congress functionary said.

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The fourth floor will be exclusively used by the general secretaries while state in-charges will occupy the third floor. The second floor will be used by all-India secretaries and their staff.

“The first floor will house all the departments and cells. The ground floor will have a conference room, media room and a reception,” the leader added.

Entry will be restricted to second, third, fourth and fifth floors, a senior Congress leader involved with media issues said, adding: “Outsiders can visit only the ground floor. The upper floors can be accessed only with prior appointments.”

The Congress had earlier planned to inaugurate the new building on December 28 but it had to be deferred due to the demise of former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

For the inaugural ceremony, 400 party leaders have been invited from across the country.

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The Akbar Road bungalow once housed Sir Reginald Maxwell, who was a member of Viceroy Lord Linlithgow’s executive council. It was also home to a teen Aung San Suu Kyi — who went on to become the state counsellor of Myanmar — in 1961 when her mother was appointed ambassador to India.

On a chilly January morning in 1978, a team of 20 workers from the Indira Gandhi-headed breakaway Congress entered its precincts, the first Congress members to do so.

The spacious premises witnessed the party’s Lok Sabha poll victories in 1980, 1984, 1991, 2004 and 2009. The Type VII or one of the largest bungalows of Lutyens’ Delhi also saw the downfall of the Congress, which is now out of power in the third consecutive Lok Sabha elections.