Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday cancelled his walk as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra for the day after it entered Kashmir Valley, with the party alleging a security lapse and claiming the police arrangements by the Union territory administration "completely collapsed".

Gandhi, who began his yatra from Banihal in Jammu region, crossed the Jawahar Tunnel into the valley in Qazigund in a bulletproof vehicle. While the yatra got a rousing reception on this side of the tunnel, the security forces found it difficult to control and manage the crowd of hundreds of party supporters.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police rejected the Congress charge and said there was no security lapse at the Bharat Jodo Yatra and that the organisers had not informed the police about a large crowd joining the march from Banihal.

"The Jammu and Kashmir Police was not consulted before the Bharat Jodo Yatra was discontinued. We will provide foolproof security (to the yatra)," Additional Director General of Police Vijay Kumar, who is in charge of security in the Kashmir Valley, said in a statement.

The Congress, however, put out a video purportedly showing police personnel withdrawing from the site.

After crossing the Jawahar Tunnel, Gandhi, along with former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah who joined him at Banihal earlier in the day, began to walk and was given a rousing reception by the locals gathered there. A group of locals also performed 'Bandpather', a folk dance, as the yatra began its Kashmir leg.

Braving the winter chill, both leaders sported white T-shirts with Gandhi wearing woolen head gear and Abdullah a skull cap.

Gandhi's white T-shirt look, even in north India's severe winter days, has been the subject of much debate and discussion. Gandhi wore a skull cap briefly this morning.

The yatris were scheduled to walk a nine-km distance to Vessu in Anantnag district of south Kashmir, where a halt was scheduled. Then the yatra was to travel to Khanabal area here where it would have stayed for the night.

However, Gandhi could walk for barely 500 metres after crossing the tunnel, amidst jostling among the huge crowd to get a glimpse of the Gandhi family scion. People had assembled in large numbers despite the area been covered by heavy snow.

Both Gandhi and Abdullah, at one point in time, climbed atop a vehicle, staying there for a few minutes while waving to the excited huge crowd.

However, Gandhi was asked by his security team to stop given the absence of police personnel to manage the large crowd that had gathered to receive him.

The yatra was halted for about 20 minutes and Congress leaders including AICC general secretary organisation K C Venugopal told reporters that it was a "very serious security lapse".

"Senior security officers have to come here and answer this. Why are they doing this?" Venugopal told reporters.

However, after the brief halt, Gandhi boarded his vehicle and he was driven to Khanabal.

"Police personnel who were supposed to manage the crowd were nowhere to be seen," the former Congress president told reporters here in a brief statement.

He said quite a large crowd had gathered and we were looking forward to walking on the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"But, unfortunately, the police arrangement completely collapsed," Gandhi said.

The Congress leader said his security team was very uncomfortable with him walking any further. "So, I had to cancel my walk. The other yatris, of course, did the walk," he said.

The former Congress president said it is important that the police manage the crowd so that we can continue with the yatra.

"It is very difficult for me to go against what my security people are recommending," the Congress leader, who started his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kanyakumari in September, said.

Asserting that it was the Jammu and Kashmir administration's responsibility to provide security, Gandhi expressed hope that the security will now be ensured for the remaining days of the yatra.

"I don't know why it happened, but tomorrow and day after tomorrow, it should not happen," he said in the unscheduled presser in which he did not take any questions.

Abdullah tweeted, "I'm witness to this. The outer ring of the cordon which was maintained by the Jammu and Kashmir police simply vanished within minutes of Rahul Gandhi starting to walk." "We had just crossed into Kashmir from Jammu and were looking forward to the 11-km walk but unfortunately it had to be cancelled," he said.

The Congress accused the government of withdrawing security personnel from around Gandhi as the Bharat Jodo Yatra reached near Qazigund, and demanded action against those responsible for the alleged security breach.

"Lapse in Shri Rahul Gandhi's security detail in Jammu and Kashmir during Bharat Jodo Yatra is disconcerting to say the least. It is GOI's prime responsibility to provide security. India has already lost two PMs and scores of leaders and we demand better security for the Yatris," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Twitter.

Terming the incident a "big security lapse", Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Gandhi's security team is holding discussions with the Jammu and Kashmir administration to ensure that everything goes off smoothly for the next few days.

"Politics has its place but by playing with Rahul Gandhi's security in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has stooped to its lowest level," the Congress general secretary added in a tweet in Hindi.

India, he said, has already lost Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and any government or administration should desist from playing politics on such issues, he said.

Later, speaking to reporters, Ramesh said till the last moment, Gandhi wanted to walk but his security advisors told him not to walk ahead. So, he took a decision on their advice.

Ramesh said there have been a couple of small security lapses during this yatra so far, "but not a huge one like this".

"The administration should have assessed the magnitude of the crowd beforehand only. But, they took it lightly. The number of security forces was not what it should have been. So, Rahul ji had to come in a car. This is a lapse on the part of the administration," he said, adding it was a very serious issue.

Asked if there was any political motive behind it, Ramesh only said "it was a huge lapse".

There was no breach in the SOPs in all these 132 days, he said.

"We did not see any security lapse in a sensitive state like Punjab. But, it is unfortunate, that right on the very first day in Kashmir, we have faced this. We appeal that the administration will take steps to improve the situation. We will follow all the SOPs," he added.

The Congress general secretary said Venugopal and Rahul’s security teams were in discussions with the administration over the security during the coming days.

"It is not prudent for me to give a ball by ball commentary. We hope it does not get repeated," he said when asked about the security officials saying there was no lapse.

Several party leaders echoed his concern, accusing the government of withdrawing security personnel around Gandhi and demanding action against those responsible for the alleged breach.

JKPCC president Vikar Rasool said south Kashmir is the most sensitive area in J-K and there should have been more security personnel to prevent people from breaching the inner circle.

"But, there were no policemen holding the rope. We stopped and waited for the police to come, but, unfortunately, the police team did not come. The police teams across the country used to hold then rope, but, here there were lesser number of police personnel. So, we had to suspend the yatra," he said.

Former JKPCC president Ghulam Ahmad Mir said this was an "attempt to sabotage a national, international event which can only be done by an officer".

"There was a higher power to control this officer. There could have been such directions to deliberately create a situation like this. What happened was completely disastrous. The party, this family, has already suffered great loss, Indira Ji, Rajiv ji.

"So, we could not have taken a security risk by telling Rahul ji to walk ahead. Life is very important. We highly condemn whatever happened," Mir said.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.