After 5 decades at 24 Akbar Road, Congress to relocate to new address – Indira Gandhi Bhawan at 9A, Kotla Road

The Congress party’s national headquarters will have a new name and a new address – Indira Gandhi Bhawan on the 9A, Kotla Road. The grand old party will formally shift from the 24, Akbar Road – its home in the national capital for about five decades – on January 15.

Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, will formally inaugurate the state-of-the-art facility in presence of Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress President, and Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on January 15, 2025 at 10 am, marking a historic moment in the party’s rich legacy spanning over 139 years, it said in a statement.

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 event will bring together party leaders from across the country. About 400 top leaders have been 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 Gandhi 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.

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.

24, Akbar Road – the history

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 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. 

“A Type VII bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi, 24 Akbar Road belonged to G Venkatswamy, a Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh. Venkatswamy had chosen to side with Indira when most party leaders had stayed away, fearing that proximity to her would invite retaliation from the then ruling Janata Party,” author and political commentator, Rashid Kidwai wrote in a column in The Tribune recently. Kidwai is author of ‘24 Akbar Road’

The Congress party’s office since independence was 7 Jantar Mantar Road. The party moved first to 5 Rajendra Prasad Road in 1971 and then 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 Kidwai. “I have built the party from scratch, not once, but twice. The new office premises will rejuvenate the party rank and file for decades,” she had told her son Sanjay GandhiPrime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government cancelled the allotment of four bungalows given to the Congress party — including 24 Akbar Road — after it failed to stick to its deadline to move into a new location.

Apart from its headquarters, the other three bungalows that the Congress was asked to vacate are 26 Akbar Road, housing the frontal wing Sewa Dal, the Youth Congress office at 5, Raisina Road and C-II/109 Chanakyapuri, allotted to Vincent George, a close aide of Sonia Gandhi.