Bihar election: Congress working out of temporary ‘war room’ in Delhi

Ahead of the Bihar election, Congress' war room temporarily relocates to bungalow 17 after losing its previous office to the Union government.

Ahead of the Bihar election, the Congress party’s “war room”—the command centre for election management—is currently operating from a temporary location, after its previous office was reclaimed by the Union government’s estate department, two Congress leaders aware of the development said on Sunday.

File photo a Congress supporter waving a party flag in Kanyakumari, (PTI)

This is the second address of the party’s war room in the last one year. Till 2023, the party was working out of 15, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road in New Delhi for nearly 18 years. But, it had to be vacated after the party’s Rajya Sabha member Pradeep Bhattacharya, to whom it was allotted, retired.

Over the past years, the bungalow had been allotted to various Congress MPs, who allowed the house to be used as the party’s war room. All these years, the house witnessed several key Congress meetings, strategy sessions and management of national and state elections but that is set to change.

In 2024, just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress set up its centre in a small bungalow -- C 1/11 Subramania Bharti Marg -- which was allotted to Congress lawmaker Uttam Kumar Reddy.

Now, just ahead of the Bihar elections, the party has temporarily set up its command centre in bungalow number 17, that was allotted to Congress’s Rajya Sabha member Shakti Sinh Gohil. “It is a temporary arrangement. After the Bihar polls, the war room officials might look for a permanent set up,” said a senior Congress leader.

“With no place available to host the war room, which avoids media glare and works in a rather secretive way due to the nature of its work, they have temporarily shifted to Gohil’s official accommodation,” a third Congress leader said.

According to officials familiar with the matter, the war room is headed by Congress’s Thiruvallur MP Sasikant Senthil, and comprises Congress joint secretary Gokul Butail, Delhi unit member Naveen Sharma, Captain (retd) Arvind Kumar and Vaibhav Walia.

In the run-up to the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress leaders operated from 99 South Avenue. Sometime in 2006, the 15 Gurdwara Rakabganj Road (GRG) bungalow became the party’s war room. The war room requires an entire bungalow to operate as it has a number of leaders and a separate set up with restricted entry. It also requires dedicated conference rooms and meeting rooms. The party has also set up a mini war room in Bihar ahead of the elections.