Mehbooba Mufti joins Rahul Gandhi in Bharat Jodo Yatra day after ‘security lapse’

Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed from Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.

With PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti joining Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders, a day after the yatra was halted due to alleged security lapses.

Mufti, along with a number of women, are walking with Rahul Gandhi from Chursu. There will be a tea break near the Birla International School, Pampore and the night halt will be at the truck yard in Pantha Chowk in the outskirts of Srinagar.

On January 29, the Yatra will resume from Pantha Chowk and walk up to Nehru Park on the Boulevard Road. Rahul Gandhi will address a press conference there.

Rahul Gandhi had to cancel his walk on Friday after it entered Kashmir Valley, as the party alleged a security lapse and claimed the police arrangements by the Union territory administration “completely collapsed”.

The Gandhi scion, who began his yatra from Banihal in Jammu region on Friday, crossed the Jawahar Tunnel into the valley in Qazigund in a bulletproof vehicle. While the yatra got a rousing reception on this side of the tunnel, the security forces found it difficult to control and manage the crowd of hundreds of party supporters. The yatra was cancelled for the day.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police rejected the Congress charge and said there was no security lapse at the Bharat Jodo Yatra and that the organisers had not informed the police about a large crowd joining the march from Banihal. The Congress, however, put out a video purportedly showing police personnel withdrawing from the site.

Now Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Home Minister Amit Shah seeking adequate protection on the day of the culmination of Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 30 in Srinagar.

In his letter, Kharge said the party welcomed the Jammu and Kashmir Police statement on ensuring complete security and said a huge gathering is expected on the day the yatra ends in Srinagar.

“We are expecting a huge gathering to join the yatra over the next two days and also the function that will be held on January 30 in Srinagar. Many senior Congress leaders of other political parties are attending the culmination fuction. I shall be grateful if you could personally intervene and advise concerned officials to provide adequate security,” Kharge wrote in his letter to Amit Shah.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra will end with a rally on Monday and leaders or representatives of ‘like-minded’ parties will participate.