The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s office in Lucknow is being painted a saffron shade, PTI reported.

Estate department officials said the outer walls and the terrace of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan will be painted saffron. The building was earlier white and blue, but officials said a proposal was recently made to repair and repaint the building. State property officer Yogesh Shukla told News18 that several colours were considered, “but saffron was chosen as the best”.

The opposition immediately protested against the decision, PTI reported. “This is all about saffronisation of the state and its politics,” Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said. Congress spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi said giving any colour associated with a political party was not right.

Ever since Adityanath took over as the chief minister, the towels that cover his chair and the curtains of his office were also changed to saffron, the PTI report said. Recently, Adityanath flagged off a fleet of 50 saffron-coloured buses, and his education department distributed saffron-coloured school bags to primary schools students. The booklets distributed to mark 100 days and six months of the Adityanath government were also saffron.