J&K: Rahul Gandhi pays floral tributes to CRPF personnel killed in Pulwama car bombing

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with J&K National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah and others during Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Qazigund, Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. (PTI Photo)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday paid floral tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in a car bomb blast in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in 2019.

Gandhi, who is in the last leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, laid a flower bouquet at the spot where the CRPF bus was blown up by a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway four years ago.

The Yatra, which is heading towards Srinagar, stopped briefly to pay homage to the slain CRPF personnel.

Also read: Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah says 'more concerned about country's image' as he joins Bharat Jodo Yatra in Banihal

The Gandhi-led foot march started from Kanyakumari on September 7 and it will conclude in Srinagar on January 30.

The Yatra was stopped on Friday near Qazigund, the gateway to the valley, after Congress alleged breach of security and mismanagement of crowd by Jammu and Kashmir administration.

AICC incharge Rajni Patil tweeted that JK administration "failed to provide security to Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Shri Rahul Gandhi.

"Security lapses indicate unfair and unprepared attitude of the UT administration," Patil said.

Gandhi, after reaching Qazigund, started to walk towards Vessu in South Kashmir as per the plan but the Congress workers suddenly found that the outer cordon, which was to be managed by Jammu and Kashmir police, had disappeared, Congress leaders alleged.

Gandhi was scheduled to walk 11 kms on Friday but had to call off after he barely walked 500 metres, they said.

"Due to security reasons, we had to stop the yatra temporarily as there was crowd mismanagement along the yatra route approved by the security apparatus," a senior congress leader said.

He said while people had turned up in numbers to show their affection for Rahul Gandhi, there were apprehensions regarding the security of the Congress leader as "people are coming too close to him."

However, because of security mismanagement, Rahul's security did not allow him to walk and he rode his car to the venue of march's night halt at Khanabal, the Congress leader added.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.