<p class="title">Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to embark on Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage over the weekend, a trek he had vowed to undertake after the mid-air scare over Hubbali in April during the Karnataka Assembly elections campaign.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A self-professed devotee of Lord Shiva, Rahul had announced his desire to undertake the arduous pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar at the Jan Aakrosh rally in April at the Ramlila Maidan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, Rahul's visit was soon embroiled in a controversy with the ministry of external affairs claiming that the Congress president had not made any application for pilgrimage that is organised by the government in coordination with China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The buzz in Congress circles is that Rahul would be away for about a fortnight and was expected to trek through the mountains instead of taking the easy route via Nepal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“A few days ago, we were on our way to Karnataka on an aircraft. And the aircraft suddenly came down by 8,000 feet. I thought gaadi gayi (that it was all over). At that moment, it struck my mind that I have to go to Kailash Mansarovar,” Rahul had said at the rally here on April 29, three days after the mid-air scare.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Keen to shrug off the “pro-minority” tag earned by the Congress, Rahul has been visiting temples while on election campaigns in Gujarat and Karnataka. He had also undertaken a trek to the Kedarnath temple in 2015 when it was re-opened after a two-year restoration work.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The temple was damaged in the flash floods that hit the region in 2013.</p>
<p class="title">Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to embark on Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage over the weekend, a trek he had vowed to undertake after the mid-air scare over Hubbali in April during the Karnataka Assembly elections campaign.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A self-professed devotee of Lord Shiva, Rahul had announced his desire to undertake the arduous pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar at the Jan Aakrosh rally in April at the Ramlila Maidan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, Rahul's visit was soon embroiled in a controversy with the ministry of external affairs claiming that the Congress president had not made any application for pilgrimage that is organised by the government in coordination with China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The buzz in Congress circles is that Rahul would be away for about a fortnight and was expected to trek through the mountains instead of taking the easy route via Nepal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“A few days ago, we were on our way to Karnataka on an aircraft. And the aircraft suddenly came down by 8,000 feet. I thought gaadi gayi (that it was all over). At that moment, it struck my mind that I have to go to Kailash Mansarovar,” Rahul had said at the rally here on April 29, three days after the mid-air scare.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Keen to shrug off the “pro-minority” tag earned by the Congress, Rahul has been visiting temples while on election campaigns in Gujarat and Karnataka. He had also undertaken a trek to the Kedarnath temple in 2015 when it was re-opened after a two-year restoration work.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The temple was damaged in the flash floods that hit the region in 2013.</p>
