The Congress office in Lucknow, also known as Nehru Bhawan, is being refurbished ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The UPCC office in Allahabad, the erstwhile home of Nehru family, is also being revamped ahead of Priyanka Gandhi’s visit.

Announcement of Priyanka Gandhi’s entry in active politics seems to have flushed the Congress office with new life, which wore a deserted look after party’s poor performance in UP Assembly elections in 2017.

Priyanka Gandhi will be monitoring the poll preparations from the Lucknow office as the party’s General Secretary for UP East. Priyanaka has been allotted the same room at the Lucknow office which once belonged to her grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The room is getting final touches and has been overhauled as per the Vastu Shastra. The interiors have been reworked and painted afresh to welcome its new occupant Priyanka Gandhi.

The Nehru Bhawan, spread on 80,000 square feet, was inaugurated on December 3, 1979 by the then AICC chief Indira Gandhi, after the property was bought in auction. The property originally belonged to a business family and was auctioned by the revenue department owing to some debts. The building was bought by the then state Congress chief Mohsina Kidwai.

Whenever in Lucknow, Indira Gandhi would operate from the room which is now being renovated for Priyanka Gandhi. Rajeev Gandhi used to visit to the UPCC’s Lucknow office. In fact, days before his assassination in 1991, Rajeev Gandhi had visited the Lucknow office while returning from his parliamentary constituency Amethi.

UPCC spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said, “The renovation work was being done for the last four months and everything is in final stages. The entire office is being renovated ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls. A war-room is being set up to monitor all the election related work. Senior Congress leaders, including UPCC Chief Raj Babbar ji, will be monitoring poll related work from UPCC war-room in Lucknow. As Priyanka Gandhi Ji is the General Secretary for UP East now, it is obvious that she will also be handling much of her work from this office.”

Priyanka Gandhi, along with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary for West UP Jyotiraditya Schindhia, is likely to visit UPCC’s Lucknow office in the first week of February to formalise the Congress strategy and to monitor the poll preparedness of the Congress party. Priyanka Gandhi is also expected to visit Kumbh in Allahabad on February 7, 2019.