Srinagar: The culmination of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra began amid heavy snowfall in the state capital on Monday as Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge unfurled the national flag at the Congress office in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi. Donning a white T-shirt and a sleeveless jacket, the former Congress chief hoisted the flag at the campsite in Panthachowk to the tunes of the national anthem amid a fresh snowfall in the city.
The Gandhi siblings later joined Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and scores of other party leaders at the Pradesh Congress Committee office on the Maulana Azad Road. Another flag-hoisting ceremony was held here after their arrival. In a brief address to the 'Bharat Yatris', Gandhi thanked them for their love, affection, and support through the 136-day foot march which began in Kanyakumari on September 7 last year.
The local administration had made stringent security arrangements for the program as Lal Chowk was off limits for vehicular traffic for the second consecutive day. Thousands of officegoers had to foot a distance of around a kilometer or more to reach their workplaces in Lal Chowk and the adjoining areas.
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Gandhi had on Sunday unfurled the national flag at the iconic clock tower in Lal Chowk to mark the end of the foot march of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed on Friday morning from the National Highway-44, Banihal Railway station, in the UT's Ramban district. Security was tightened in the area in the wake of the recent twin blasts on the outskirts of Jammu city on January 22 which rocked a busy locality in Narwal leaving at least nine people injured.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started in Kanyakumari on September 7 concludes today on January 30 in Srinagar after covering 3,970 km, 12 states, and two Union territories. The Congress has extended invitations to 21 political parties for its concluding function at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium here.
