After Omar Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti joins Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in J-K

A day after National Conference leader Omar Abdullah walked along Rahul Gandhi in Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, his rival in the state politics and head of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti joined the Yatra on Saturday.

As the yatra resumed, a day after alleged lapse in Rahul's security, Mufti along with her daughter and a number of women were seen walking along Rahul Gandhi in Jammu and Kashmir's Chursu.

According to the schedule shared by the Congress, there will be a break near the Birla International School, Pampore and the night halt will be at the truck yard in Pantha Chowk in the outskirts of Srinagar.

The historical yatra, started from Kanyakumari in September, will enter Srinagar after passing through 12 states spanning a distance of nearly 3500 kilometres, covered in 150 days.

Observers believe Mufti joining Bharat Jodo Yatra will not only boost PDP’s political fortune in the state and gather support for the restoration of the Article 370 but will benefit the grand old party Congress also.

After Ghulam Nabi Azad’s exit from the Congress, a mass outreach programme like the Yatra was needed in Jammu and Kashmir, opined observers.

Mufti, before joining the yatra, has written an article in the Hindu, and lauded the yatra as “ the first genuine outreach to the people of Jammu and Kashmir”.

“We continue to live through an undeclared emergency (exponentially more draconian than the one declared in 1975) where all the institutions necessary for democratic checks and balance have been subverted and weaponised to intimidate any form of opposition and criticism,” said Mehbooba.