Thiruvananthapuram: BJP national president Amit Shah will lay the foundation stone for the new party headquarters at Mararji Bhavan at Aristo Junction here during his visit to the state next month. His tour, which was scheduled for July 25-27, has been advanced to June 2- 3.

The building plan, supposed to be the biggest party office in the state, is awaiting sanction by the city corporation. The building design sub-committee comprises former state president V. Muraleedharan, vice-president George Kurien, general secretary A.N. Radhakrishnan, secretary C. Sivankutty and spokesperson M.S. Kumar. The plan has been prepared by senior architect B.R. Ajit, who is also the head of Asian School of Architecture and Design Innovations in Kochi.

“Amit Shah will lay the foundation stone for the new party headquarters early next month,” said a sub-committee member.

The existing Mararji Bhavan in 55 cents of land was purchased by a trust headed by the then BJP president C.K. Padmanabhan in 1999 from former bureaucrat S. Krishnakumar. The other members of the trust were former BJP organising general secretary P. P. Mukundan, Mr O. Rajagopal, Mr K. V. Sreedharan Master and Mr K. Raman Pillai. Later, Mr. Padmanabhan and Mr. Pillai stepped down from the trust.

“During my tenure it was planned to have a three-storeyed office apart from a floor for car parking. But the decision for a new building was delayed,” Mr Mukundan told DC.

Currently, the BJP state committee office is functioning in the three-storeyed election committee building at PMG Junction on rental basis.