New Delhi: As Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' entered its last lap in Kashmir, Gandhi today hoisted the Tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar at 12 noon, to mark the end of the foot march which started from Kanyakumari on September 7.
The whole area around Lal Chowk had been sealed off and a multi-layer security ring deployed around the city centre.
Gandhi, along with his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, began the yatra at 10:45 am in his trademark white T-shirt, news agency PTI reported. The yatra resumed from Srinagar's Panthachowk in the morning and halted for a break at Sonwar Chowk.
The Gandhis joined hundreds of Congress supporters, including women, who were seen carrying the tricolour and party flags.
The yatra covered a distance of seven kilometres up to the Sonwar area of Srinagar.
The yatra is set to culminate at Nehru Park in the Boulevard area of Srinagar on Sunday after having covered a distance of over 4,000 km across 75 districts of the country.
On Monday, Gandhi will unfurl the tricolour at the party headquarters on the M A Road here, following which he will address a public rally at the SK stadium, for which 23 opposition political parties have been invited.
On Saturday, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti joined the yatra, terming the initiative “a breath of fresh air”.
The Gandhi scion also paid floral tributes to the 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans who were killed in the 2019 Pulwama suicide car bomb blast attack.
Earlier, on Friday, the Bharat Jodo Yatra was suspended for the afternoon session following a "security lapse", with the Congress alleging that the J and K Police had withdrawn security around its leader Rahul Gandhi in the wake of surging crowds during the foot march in Qazigund.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra which started in Kanyakumari on September 7 and will conclude in Srinagar today after traversing through 12 states.