Gujarat Congress cancels plans to shift party headquarters

The Gujarat unit of the Congress has put on hold its plans to shift their "unlucky" state headquarters office from the Paldi area of the city to a rented building in the Memnagar area after the AICC's intervention, party sources said today.
The four-storey new office at Memnagar was supposed to be inaugurated by the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Bharatsinh Solanki tomorrow.
Party sources claimed that the decision to postpone the shifting came after the All India Congress Committee in Delhi expressed its dissatisfaction about the decision.
"Besides AICC leaders, many local leaders were also against shifting of the party office. The decision to shift the office was purely based on rumours and superstition that the Paldi office is 'unlucky' for the party," a Congress leader said.

However, GPCC spokesperson Manish Doshi claimed that the shifting has been put on hold due to the festive season.
"Tomorrow is Janmashtami, followed by other festivals. Thus, many of our leaders and workers had a feeling that the shifting should be postponed," Doshi said.

A few days ago, it was announced by the GPCC that the new office would be officially inaugurated by Solanki on Janmashtami.
Congress sources revealed that the decision to shift the office was aimed at breaking the "jinx" of losing all major elections in Gujarat ever since the party shifted to its current office in 2001.

Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, which is the Congress party's present Gujarat state headquarters, is a four-storey building located near V S Hospital in the Paldi area, constructed by the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee in 2001, after pulling down a bungalow.