Former Congress President and Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi Thursday offered special prayers inside the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi, nestled in Trikuta hills of Reasi district.
Before reaching the cave shrine, Rahul trekked 13 km long serpentine track under tight security arrangements.
Rahul attracted lot of attention of fellow pilgrims as he trekked uninterruptedly without taking too many breaks.
He also interacted with fellow pilgrims during small breaks.
On reaching Jammu early in the morning, Rahul Gandhi was given rousing reception at the airport by the local leaders of J&K unit. From inside the airport he drove straight to the Katra base camp along with a battery of senior Congress leaders including J&K unit incharge Rajani Patil and JKPCC Chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir.
Along the entire route, Rahul Gandhi was greeted by upbeat party workers and local leaders.
Several media teams followed him along the route and sought his comments after BJP questioned his temple politics.
"I have come here to offer prayers to the Mata. I don't want to make any political comments here", Rahul responded before embarking on a yatra near Ban Ganga, the starting point of the yatra. Rahul is scheduled to stay back at the cave shrine where he attended evening aarti.
He is scheduled to address party workers and interact with local leaders before returning to New Delhi on Friday.
This is Rahul Gandhi's second visit to Jammu and Kashmir in the last one month. He visited Srinagar on August 10 and is most likely to visit Ladakh in the coming weeks.