According to Congress sources, the estate department on Wednesday issued a notice to the Congress party directing them to vacate their office at 24 Akbar Road by March 28. It is noteworthy that the bungalow situated on Akbar Road remained the headquarters of the Congress Party for 48 years.
However, even after the opposition party opened its new office, Indira Bhawan, on Kotla Marg last year, the premises on Akbar Road have not been vacated yet, and party activities are still going on there.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s plan to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, accusing it of taking a “U-turn” and using women’s reservation as a “weapon to divert public attention” aimed at diverting attention from important national issues like the Prime Minister’s foreign policy failures and the ongoing LPG and energy crisis amid the West Asia crisis.
In a post shared on Twitter, Ramesh reminded that the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, 2023 – which guarantees one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies – was originally linked to the completion of a new census and delimitation exercise.
He wrote, “The new Parliament House was inaugurated in September 2023 with the passing of the Nari Vandan Act, 2023. This Act was amended to provide for one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies, as well as one-third reservation for women in seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Both these reservations were to be implemented after the completion of the delimitation and census process.”
Ramesh further pointed out that the Congress had pressed for its immediate implementation before the 2024 general elections, a demand which was rejected by the government at that time.
He said, “When the Nari Vandan Act 2023 was being debated, the Indian National Congress had demanded its immediate implementation from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections itself. The Modi government had said that this is not possible as it is mandatory for both delimitation and census to be completed first. Now after 30 months, suddenly Ustad has changed his stand and wants to implement reservation without completing the delimitation and census.”
