Rahul Gandhi visits Kheer Bhawani temple, Hazratbal shrine in Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar, August 10

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday visited the Kheer Bhawani temple in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir and the Hazratbal shrine here.

Gandhi, who arrived at a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, reached the temple nestled among mighty chinars in Tullamulla area of the central Kashmir district early in the morning, a Congress leader said.

He said Gandhi was accompanied by the party’s general secretary organisation K C Venugopal and AICC incharge J-K affairs Rajni Patil to the famous Ragnya Devi temple popularly known as Kheer Bhawani.

“This was a private visit. Rahul ji wanted to pay obeisance at the temple,” the leader said.

Scores of party leaders and supporters were waiting outside the shrine complex to welcome the former Congress president.

Gandhi spent over half-an-hour at the temple and offered prayers, he said.

Immediately after leaving the temple complex, the former Congress president visited the nearby shrine of Mir Baba Haider to pay obeisance there, the leader said.

Gandhi then visited the Dargah Hazratbal shrine on the banks of the Dal Lake here and prayed there as well, he added.

The Congress MP had attended a wedding reception of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Ghulam Ahmad Mir’s son at a posh hotel here on Monday evening.

He will inaugurate the Congress Bhawan at MA Road in the heart of the city here.

“He will also interact with party leaders and workers at the party office,” the Congress leader added.

Gandhi will leave for Delhi later on Tuesday. — PTI