The Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra Saturday entered its last lap as the Rahul Gandhi-led march was joined by his sister Priyanaka Gandhi Vadra and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who termed the initiative “a breath of fresh air”.
Reacting to the allegation, the Jammu and Kashmir administration had said pressure on security resources due to the size of the crowd, larger than planned, may have created an impression of lack of security arrangements during the march.
However, on Saturday, the party said the security arrangements were stricter as security forces sealed off all roads leading to the yatra’s starting point and allowed only authorised vehicles to reach the venue.
There was also a three-layered security ring around Gandhi as part of the heightened security measures.
As Gandhi started walking, he was joined by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, her daughter Iltija Mufti and her mother Gulshan Nazir, as well as a large number of Congress and PDP workers as the march traversed through Awantipora.
A large number of women supporters also joined the yatra on Saturday.
Later, Rahul Gandhi was joined by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who walked with him till the Galandar area of Pampore, from where both of them drove to the night halt destination at Pantha Chowk on the outskirts of Srinagar.
Despite stringent security measures, hundreds of enthusiastic locals lined up along the Srinagar-Jammu national highway from Awantipora to Pampore to catch a glimpse of the former Congress president.
With inputs from News18
The post Priyanka, Mehbooba join Rahul as yatra enters last lap first appeared on IPA Newspack.
