The Congress headquarters at Mall Avenue in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, where the partys high profile office-bearers Priyanka Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia will have their offices to run the Uttar Pradesh campaign is being painted in fresh white.
The sprawling double-storeyed building is being dressed up for the new occupants as the mood turns upbeat among party loyalists.
A new ‘war room’ is being constructed and a conference hall for workers to meet leaders in private is also being built. There are 12 computer terminals. Surrounded by high-rises that have cropped up in the past few years, the state Congress headquarters for long has been a sad reflection of the party’s decline in the state. There is now hope among the cadres that things could change.
Anil Kumar Sharma, assistant permanent secretary (Organisation) who pedals over 14-km to reach the office daily points to the repairs that are taking place in the building. “Similar repairs” were underway in the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) set up by Priyanka Vadra.
There is some aggression creeping back as well. “In the war between falsehood, lies and truth, Priyanka will certainly lead the Congress to victory in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections,” says Sharma.
For that to happen the physical repairs of the state party headquarters as well as that of the party will need to take place.
The NSUI office on the campus lies neglected. Inaugurated in 1986, the office next to a bust of Indira Gandhi has a rusted lock at its gate, which rarely opens now, says a party man. Empty packets of chips are littered around. People dump garbage in front of it.
UPCC spokesman Virendra Madan downplays plans for renovation and makeover and says it has nothing to do with Priyanka Vadra’s appointment as general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh.