Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra halts citing security lapse

New Delhi, Jan 27: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday halted his Bharat Jodo Yatra citing a security lapse.

He was scheduled to walk 20 km on Friday but called off his yatra just after walking 1 km in Banihal. "I think it's important that the Police manage the crowd so that we can do the yatra. It's very difficult for me to go against what my security people are recommending," ANI quoted the Congress MP in a tweet. Rahul was joined by former Jammu & Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah.

He said that the police arrangement completely collapsed that forced him to halt the yatra. "Police arrangement completely collapsed & Police people who were supposed to manage the crowd were nowhere to be seen. My security people were very uncomfortable with me walking further on yatra so I had to cancel my yatra. Other yatris did the walk," Gandhi said in Anantnag.

Congress leaders told NDTV that Gandhi could not move about 30 minutes and he was taken away in a security vehicle and the march stopped at Qazigund, the gateway to the Kashmir Valley.

"The police drove off after we crossed Banihal Tunnel," said Congress leader KC Venugopal. "There was no police for proper security of Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah. There were very serious security lapses. Rahul Gandhi was going without any security. We are very concerned about the security aspect," the website KC Venugopal as saying.

On asking whether he will continue his padayatra and Bharat Jodo Yatra in wake of security lapses by the J&K administration as alleged by his party, he said, "Yes, we will. It will continue."

However, the Jammu and Kashmir Police dismissed the allegations levelled by Rahul Gandhi of security lapse in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. "The government is acutely mindful of the security concerns and all arrangements have been made to ensure the best possible security for the ongoing Bharat Jodo yatra," ANI quoted RK Goyal, Additional Chief Secy (FC), Home Dept J-K, as saying. "The size of the crowd was larger than planned which led to the pressure on the available security resources and created the impression that security arrangements were not in place. However, 15 companies of paramilitary forces and 10 companies of J-K police were deployed," he added.