Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat met Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday
Ahead of Haryana Assembly elections, Olympic wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat joined the Congress On Friday, after days of speculation, both the fighters joined the Congress party in the presence of senior leader KC Venugopal and Pawan Khera around 3 pm in the national capital.
“Both of them have won the hearts of the people. We are proud of them. We are proud of Vinesh. Now she is entering the political arena. We welcome them,” Congress leader Udai Bhan said.
“They protested alongside farmers, they stood with farmers. Leaders are formed during such movements. We are proud to have both of them in our party,” Venugopal said.
Before joining the party, Phogat and Punia had resigned from their posts in Indian Railway. Both had participated in the protest by the wrestlers along with Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik.
Phogat reverted to his official name X and confirmed that he has resigned from Indian Railway.
“At this juncture of my life, I have decided to part ways with the railway service and have submitted my resignation to the concerned authorities of Indian Railways. I will always be grateful to the Indian Railways family for giving me an opportunity to serve the nation,” Vinesh wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Bajrang Punia also resigned from Indian Railways on Friday. In his resignation letter, Bajrang said he was grateful to Northern Railways for its guidance.
“I joined this prestigious service on 13th September, 2014. I am grateful to the Northern Railways for the guidance provided to me in my professional career and also express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have worked with me in all capacities during the course of my employment with the Northern Railways,” Bajrang wrote in the resignation letter.
“I wish to tender my resignation from my position with OSD Sports, Northern Railways and request that I be relieved of my duties in that position. I have decided to tender my resignation due to personal reasons and circumstances of my residence. I have already informed you verbally about this,” he added.
According to some sources, Bajrang Punia will not contest the Assembly elections, but he is likely to be appointed as the co-chairman of the Haryana Congress campaign committee for the Haryana Assembly elections, and Vinesh Phogat will contest the elections. His seat will be decided in the evening.
At the Paris Olympics, Vinesh was disqualified from the gold medal bout in the 50kg category after being found to be 100 grams overweight. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) also dismissed her request for a joint silver medal. She announced her retirement from wrestling on August 8, a day after her disqualification.
(With contributions from ANI)
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