A New Office For Amit Shah: The BJP Is Shifting And Here Is The Plan

New Delhi: For decades, 11 Ashoka Road on a tree-lined avenue in the heart of Delhi has served as the BJP headquarters. It holds history - the legendary Atal Bihari Vajpayee-LK Advani duo drove up here for party meetings, their faces on giant posters dominating the street.  

The posters now have Prime Minster Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah on them, but these shall soon be gone. The BJP office is set to shift about 5 km away, to a two-acre plot on a street named after Deen Dayal Upadhyay of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, the BJP's ideological mentor.  

Next week, on August 18, PM Modi and Amit Shah will lay a foundation stone for the new office. Sources said the party expects to have it up and running before the 2019 national election.

Top leaders say the shift will not just be about location. "Modern, spacious and linked to every BJP office in the country. That is what our new office will be like," said a BJP functionary.

For one, from the present sprawling, single-storeyed bungalow, the party office will graduate to a multi-storeyed building with three blocks.

It will have a main building seven storeys high and two buildings on the side with three storeys each, which will have the offices of the party president and other senior leaders.

The interiors, planners say, will be "traditional but plush."  The building will be ecofriendly - the use of hollow bricks will keep it cool, solar panels will provide power and large bay windows will allow light. Rain-water harvesting and bio-toilets are key features planned.

The WiFi complex will have 70 rooms, including two large conference halls and a digital library connected to each party office in state capitals and district headquarters. There will be several eateries for party functionaries and visitors.

Since PM Modi is one of the most zealously guarded men, A-grade security will be ensured. A big national flag on a high pole will have pride of place.

Underground parking for 200 cars is planned; right now visitors park on the road outside leading to traffic jams every day.

Amit Shah, who likes to hold all his meetings at the party office, has reviewed plans. The BJP believes the current office is too small and has too few features of a modern office.

But some say the shift is prompted by more than just a space crunch. "Leaders love to leave a legacy. A new headquarter building will give the current leadership a distinctive place in the party's history," said a senior leader, now sidelined.

Land was allotted to both the BJP and the Congress for new offices more than 10 years ago.