It was only a matter of time that “corporatisation” — the buzzword in the era of economic liberalisation — caught up with parliamentary institutions.

Come 2008, the country will see the first such institution getting corporatised. And the institution under focus is the Constitution Club, a club meant for MPs and ex-MPs, located a few hundred metres from Parliament.

Venue for a range of important political developments since its inception in 1947, the club now wears a run-down look despite being a favoured location for political meetings and conferences, thanks to apparent official apathy.
The club has played host to tectonic shifts in national politics like the post-Emergency formation of the Janata Party, V P Singh’s post-Bofors announcement to break away from the Congress in 1980s and the formal introduction of A P J Abdul Kalam as a presidential candidate in 2002.

But the club is all set for a corporate makeover with the appointment of its first Director & CEO a la a corporate body and the ongoing renovation to upgrade its facilities with the state-of-the-art equipment. There are plans as well to start facilities like a multi-cuisine restaurant, a coffee shop-cum-confectionary and a health centre comprising a gymnasium, a spa and beauty parlours for both sexes.

“The multi-cuisine restaurant is likely start in January, while the state-of-the-art health centre with spa, jacuzzi, sauna, yoga and aerobics facilities as well as separate massage centres and beauty parlours for male and female members should start in about 2-3 months’ time,” Col Girish Rajkonwar, the first-ever director & CEO of the Constitution Club, told Deccan Herald. Around Rs 3 crore will be spent to renovate the complex. The members-only club till now allowed only MPs and ex-MPs to become members on application, but there are also plans to expand the membership eligibility to a few other categories, a decision which will have to be taken by its governing council which has the speaker as president, the deputy speaker as general secretary and the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman and the Union urban development minister as vice-presidents.

According to Rajkonwar, the club will have billiards & pool room, chess, carom and card-playing areas and a lounge area with contemporary reading material.