Rahul Gandhi trekked and reached the Kedarnath temple on Friday morning, after spending a night at Gaurikund.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi en route to Kedarnath temple on Friday morning. PTI
Rahul arrived at the Jollygrant airport in a charted plane from Delhi on Thursday afternoon. He was accompanied by party leader Jiten Prasad and party's Uttarakhand in-charge Ambika Sonia.
"I have come here to pay respects to those who lost their lives in the 2013 tragedy," Rahul Gandhi told reporters after offering prayers at the holy shrine.
When asked whether he was at Kedarnath to seek divine intervention that will give his political career a boost, the Congress vice president said that he did not ask for anything. "I did not ask for anything, but I felt immense power."
Rahul Gandhi recently returned from his 57-day sabbatical and was leading the Congress on farmers' issue. The Congress vice president gave a miss to the debate in Lok Sabha on Thursday.
He paid tributes to Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali, the hero of Peshwar incident in Gaurikund on Thursday, PTI reported.
Dressed in a jeans and t-shirt, Rahul later took stock of rehabilitation works undertaken by the state government at Kedarnath following the 2013 disaster. He also discussed Char Dham yatra arrangements. He later arrived at Gaurikund in Rudraprayag district.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat and his cabinet colleagues Indira Hridyesh, Yashpal Arya, Dinesh Agarwal and Preetam Singh received him at the airport.
Rawat is known to be close to Rahul at whose behest the reins of Uttarakhand were handed over to him from Vijay Bahuguna a year ago.
"I persuaded Rahul to visit Uttarakhand and pay obeisance at the Kedarnath shrine. For me, the moment will remain memorable as I had accompanied Indira Gandhi to the Badrinath shrine on foot," Rawat was quoted as saying by IANS.
Sources said Rahul Gandhi was undertaking the yatra because of his "personal belief" and specifically chose to trek up the distance of 18 kms.
According to ANI, Rahul Gandhi said that he decided to trek all the way to Kedarnath to pay a tribute to all those who lost their lives during the flash floods in June 2013.
Kedarnath, the most remote of the four Char Dham sites, is situated in the Himalayas, about 11,755 ft above sea level near Chorabari Glacier, the head of river Mandakini, and is flanked by snow-capped peaks.
With inputs from agencies
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