From 24 Akbar Road to Indira Bhawan: Congress to shift HQ on 15 January

In a significant development coinciding with the Delhi assembly election campaign, the Indian National Congress has announced the inauguration of its new headquarters at Indira Gandhi Bhawan, located at 9A Kotla Road.

The formal inauguration will take place on 15 January 2025, 10:00 a.m.

The event will be attended by Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, who will formally inaugurate the state-of-the-art facility. She will be joined by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, LoP Rahul Gandhi and other top leaders.

The timing of this inauguration is particularly noteworthy as it aligns with the party's campaign for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.

The new headquarters is named after Indira Gandhi, India’s first woman prime minister and reportedly designed to serve as both the symbolic and strategic epicentre of the party’s renewed aspirations.

Political analysts see this move as an effort to project that the reinvigorated Congress is ready to reclaim political ground in the national capital, where it has struggled to make a significant impact in recent years.

The Congress has invited around 400 senior leaders from across the country to participate in the event.

Attendees will include members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents, Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leaders, Members of Parliament (MPs) and AICC officials. Former Chief Ministers and prominent leaders from various states will also add weight to the ceremony, signalling the party's unity ahead of the Delhi elections.

Equipped with cutting-edge facilities to support its administrative and strategic operations, Indira Gandhi Bhawan is a blend of heritage and innovation.

It replaces the iconic 24 Akbar Road office which had been the party’s headquarters since 1978. While most offices and operations will shift to the new premises, the Akbar Road office will continue to house some cells and continues to enjoy its historic importance, of course — and will reportedly host a few high-profile meetings on occasion.

This development also comes at a time when other major parties, including the BJP, have similarly upgraded their headquarters, signalling the intensifying competition for political dominance in India’s capital.

The Congress hopes that Indira Gandhi Bhawan will serve as a rallying point for its cadres and leadership too, as the party prepares to make its mark in the upcoming elections.

It will certainly be interesting to compare and contrast it with the BJP's 1.70 lakh sq ft headquarters — bigger than the office of any other political party in the world — just around the corner (or rather, out back) on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg. Indira Bhawan has its back to the same street.

And of course, comparison with the new prime minister's residence and AAP convenor and sometime-apply Arvind Kejriwal's 'Sheesh Mahal' — so much in the news lately — are inevitable too.