Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi during his trip to Jammu and Kashmir on August 10 demanded the restoration of full statehood and urged the Centre to conduct free and fair elections.
Gandhi, who arrived on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on August 10, visited the Kheer Bhawani temple in Ganderbal district and the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar on the day, reported news agency ANI.
He reached the temple nestled among mighty chinars in the 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 organization KC Venugopal and AICC in-charge J-K affairs Rajni Patil.
“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 him.Gandhi spent over half an hour at the temple and offered prayers. 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.
