With Elections Approaching, Rahul Gandhi To Resume Temple Run From Kailash Mansarovar This Week

With elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh approaching, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has decided to resume his temple run from Kailash Mansarovar, the Times of India has reported.

He is likely to travel to Kailash Mansarovar on 31st August through the China route, which the country had closed last year following a military stand-off with India over road construction in Bhutanese territory. The route was opened by China for Indian pilgrims in May this year, according to this report.

Gandhi’s visits to temples, which started during the Gujarat elections last year and continued in Karnataka, are likely to get frequent as elections approach. Political observers have said that the Congress could experiment with soft Hindutva in the upcoming state polls and the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

In January, the All India Congress Committee had asked party’s state units in Rajasthan to prepare a list of temples which Gandhi could visit to derive political mileage in election season, Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar had reported.

In Gujarat, the Congress president had visited over 27 temples during the election season, including the Vir Meghmaya Temple in Patan, Bahucharji Temple in Mehsana and Khotidyar Temple in Varana. (Also Read: Gujarat Turns Gandhi Into A Bhakt; BJP’s Counter Should Be To Put His Skin In The Game)

In Karnataka, he had visited Shringeri Sharadamba Temple in Chikmagalur district. Dressed in traditional temple attire of a dhothi and shalya, the Congress president had met Sringeri mutt pontiff Bharati Tirtha Swami. He had also visited Dodda Ganapathi temple at Basavanagudi in Bengaluru.