Srinagar, Jan. 6: Mata Vaishno Devi has found a new devotee in Union minister for new and renewable energy and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah.

Farooq walked barefoot for about 3km to the shrine in Reasi district of Jammu on Tuesday to pay his obeisance and perform aarti.

“Farooq sahib took off his shoe after coming down from his chopper at Sanji Chat and walked up to the shrine, covering a distance of 2.75km”, a police officer said.

“He was sporting a pair of socks and walked on a difficult terrain. Many pilgrims prefer to cover the distance on mules and we offered him one but he declined and preferred to walk barefoot. Inside the cave shrine he performed aarti for some 20 minutes.”

Vaishno Devi is one of the most revered Hindu shrines in the country which was visited by a record 87 lakh pilgrims last year.

M.K. Dwivedi, additional chief executive officer Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, said the minister set off for the journey to the shrine after meeting governor N.N. Vohra at Raj Bhavan in Jammu. Vohra is the chairperson of the shrine board.

“He (Farooq) sanctioned six solar power based projects for the shrine which are in addition to several other similar projects which are underway at the shrine complex”, he said.

Farooq’s gesture came a day ahead of his son Omar Abdullah’s completion of two years in office. Police sources said he prayed for the success of his son and his party.

The Union minister yesterday rubbished reports that his son is vacating office next year for ally Congress.

Senior Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Mangat Ram Sharma recently demanded that the two coalition partners should have the chief minister post on rotation for three years, as was the agreement with former ally Peoples Democratic Party.

“You cannot stop people from saying all these things and these do not mean that coalition is in trouble,” he told a press conference on Wednesday.

Omar has been finding the going tough as two major agitations during last two years — one over the alleged rape and murder of two Shopian women and another over the death of teenager Tufail Mattoo which led to 111 more deaths in protests — had the chief minister nearly relinquishing his office.

Farooq is believed to leave no opportunity in portraying himself as a liberal Muslim. His daughter Sara is married to Sachin Pilot and son Omar to Payal, who is a Hindu.

He has frequented shrines and temples across the country in the past and has been seen performing havans also. But it is possibly first time that he has taken so much trouble to walk such a distance to the temple and that too at a ripe age of 74. He has cared too hoots to opposition from section of people in Kashmir to such gestures.