Rahul Gandhi undertakes foot yatra to pay obeisance at Mata Vaishnodevi shrine

Jammu, Sep 9 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who arrived in Jammu on Thursday for a two-day visit, paid obeisance at the Mata Vaishnodevi temple after undertaking a foot journey to reach the cave shrine atop the Trikuta hills in Reasi district.

Gandhi was given a rousing reception at the Jammu airport on his arrival earlier in the day and Congress members, including top leaders, welcomed him with beats of dolaks.

The Congress leader paid obeisance at the Mata Vaishnodevi temple in the evening, the party's Jammu and Kashmir chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir told PTI from the shrine board's Bhawan.

He reached the shrine after undertaking a "13-km-long yatra" on foot through the Trikuta hills from Katra basecamp, he said.

Gandhi met with the head pujari (chief priest) and the aarti pujari at the Bhawan and was blessed by them, according to Mir.

During his trek to the shrine, the former Congress president was flanked by several leaders, including Mir.

"We had not scheduled any political engagements on the first day of his tour,” a Congress leader said.

Mir, who has laid out Gandhi's schedule for Friday, said, "Next day on 10 September, he shall interact with the party delegates at JK Resorts at Trikuta Nagar in Jammu from 11am to 12.3O pm.” After a luncheon interaction with senior party leaders, he shall return to New Delhi by a 3.30 pm flight, Mir said.

This will be Gandhi's second visit to Jammu and Kashmir within a month. He was in Srinagar on August 9 and 10, when he inaugurated the party's new office in Srinagar city.

Large crowds assembled at different locations besides reaching at Katra to welcome Gandhi. PTI AB ANB ANB