Congress paints its Thrissur office saffron, then rushes to undo it

The brief was to paint the office in the tricolour - saffron white and green - ahead of Rahul Gandhi's visit as part of 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.

But those who painted the Thrissur district office of the Congress in Kerala accidentally left out most of the white, and what turned out in the end was an office painted saffron with some green. More like as in the BJP party flag.


This embarrassing gaffe happened at a time when Gandhi was in his speeches throughout the state as part of the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' campaigning against the "divisive politics" of the BJP.

It was noticed by the local leadership only after the completion of the painting work the other day, PTI reported, and they scrambled to make amends.

But by then, the images of the saffron painted DCC office had gone viral on social media platforms and political opponents trolled the Congress leaders saying the colour was a testimony to their "affiliation" to the BJP.

Labourers were rushed back on Wednesday to paint green over the saffron and put an end to the controversy. Manorama TV quoted one of them as saying the saffron was chosen by the local Congress leaders and that at that time it did not occur it would end up looking like a BJP office.

A senior DCC office bearer told PTI: "The painting was done as part of plan to give a fresh look to the DCC office ahead of Bharat Jodo Yatra reaching the district. A direction was given to give shades of the national flag. But, it seems that the labourers forgot to use white colour. They gave prominence to saffron and green only."

Gandhi was in capital Thiruvananthapuram in the south during the day after entering the state on September 10. The foot march will traverse through the state covering 450 kilometres, touching seven districts over a period of 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1.