BJP chief Amit Shah and other leaders take charge at new headquarters

Under a Supreme Court order, all national political parties have to vacate their Lutyens' bungalows

All Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) top leaders, including Amit Shah, attended office at the new national headquarters here on Monday. 
 

Party chief Shah had claimed the building, spread over 170,000 sqft, is the largest headquarters of any political party in the world. The building, inaugurated on Sunday, is fitting for a party with 110 million members, also the highest for any political party in the world.

Under Shah, the BJP can justifiably boast to have become a more efficient party. On Monday, a day after the building at 6A Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg was inaugurated, the BJP’s previous national headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road, wore a deserted look.

The old office was in the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone (LBZ). Under a Supreme Court order, all national political parties have to vacate their LBZ bungalows. The parties had also been allotted land.

While the Communist Party of India, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have their national headquarters outside the LBZ, the Congress has sought more time from the Directorate of Estates to construct its new office.

The foundation stone for the BJP’s new office at Deendayal Upadhyaya Marg was laid on August 18, 2016. The earlier plan was to complete the building by December 25, 2018, the birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, the work was completed early and the building inaugurated on February 18 — exactly 18 months after the foundation stone was laid. The architects of the BJP’s new office are Mumbai-based Arvind Nandapurkar and Associates.

The office has three buildings, with the tallest being five-storied, including the ground floor. Other two buildings are three-storied. There is also a two-level parking lot, which can accommodate nearly 200 cars. The buildings are enclosed inside a 10-feet tall boundary wall, giving the office an imposing façade.
 

The top floor of the tallest of the three buildings overlooks houses the office and secretariat of the party chief. There are two auditoriums — a 450-seater for party meetings and a 150-seater mostly for press conferences. 
 

The three buildings have 70 rooms, including separate rooms for party general secretaries and spokespersons.

One of the buildings houses a museum on the ground floor that features the history of the BJP, and its earlier avatar, the Jana Sangh.  There is also a small lotus-shaped pond at the centre of the complex. Party leaders said the room for the parliamentary board meetings was the most tastefully decorated of all. 
 

There is a library and reading room, a canteen and video conference facility to connect with any of the BJP’s 600 district offices across the country.