Rahul Gandhi skips Pashupatinath visit, reaches Lhasa

Kathmandu [Nepal], Sept 1 (ANI): Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is on a 12-day trip to Kailash Mansarovar, has skipped his visit to the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu and reached Lhasa in Tibet.

"Rahul Gandhi was here in Nepal for a personal visit and had planned to visit Pashupatinath, but he directly flew to Lhasa on Saturday afternoon," a source inside the Indian Mission in Nepal told ANI without giving details.

The Gandhi scion, who arrived in Nepal on Friday en route to Kailash Mansarovar, was expected to visit the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited on Friday before flying back to India.

"This was his personal visit and he was here en route to Kailash Mansarovar. We gave him the security in addition to those whom he brought along from India. We are also not aware of his schedule and it has been kept confidential," the spokesperson of the Nepal Police, Sailendra Thapa Chhetri, told ANI while responding to queries on Gandhi's visit.

Gandhi had landed in Kathmandu at around 2 pm on Friday and stayed at Hotel Radisson in Lazimpat area of the city.