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Updated: Sep 07, 2018 23:27 IST

When Congress president Rahul Gandhi first tweeted images of the waters of Lake Mansarovar and other photographs of his Kailash Yatra on Wednesday, critics on social media alleged that he had not gone on the pilgrimage at all - and was posting images from Google.

On Friday, Gandhi’s photographs with fellow pilgrims - and a screenshot of his Fitbit - flooded social media, showing the leader’s long trek to the holy site. It was, however, still not enough to convince minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Giriraj Singh, who called it ‘fake’.

The Congress tweeted a picture of Gandhi, “Leaving all the haters behind, Congress president Rahul Gandhi set the pace during his Kailash Yatra. Can you keep pace?” Along with it was his personal Fitbit data - he had walked 46,433 steps, to cover a distance of 34.31 kms and burnt 4,466 calories.

A Congress functionary familiar with Gandhi’s itinerary said, “The trek was very challenging : upto 18562 feet/ 5625 mtrs through Drolma La pass and they returned to camp at 8 pm having left at 7 am. Most Yatris do this journey on horseback. Congress President refused the offer of horses and instead insisted on trekking the entire way.”

Fellow pilgrims were seen, in the photographs, taking selfies and videos along with Gandhi.

But some rivals remained unconvinced. BJP’s Singh told the news agency, ANI, “A fake photo of Rahul Gandhi was posted by the Congress party. Rahul Gandhi is an impersonator from a fake party called the Congress.” He also claimed that because a picture did not have the shadow of a walking stick, it was ‘photo-shopped’.

But Congress said Singh was engaged in ‘trash talk’. Congress leader RPN Singh said, “This is utterly regretful that a Minister tweets without any knowledge of facts...this is an arduous journey and only a few people can undertake this journey. I feel he is the first frontline leader of this country who is undertaking Kailash pilgrimage...(BJP) has failed to understand the real Hindu religion.”

Meanwhile, Gandhi’s last tweet was a video with Kailash in the backdrop. “Shiva is the universe.”