Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Saini said every person has his or her own opinion about which ideology they want to associate with. However, he took a dig at Congress, saying it has opposed decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress on Friday released its first list of 31 candidates for Haryana assembly elections and fielded former wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will contest from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi and state Congress chief Udai Bhan from Hodal.
The party has fielded Mewa Singh against Chief Minister and BJP candidate Nayab Singh Saini in Ladwa.
Pradeep Chaudhary is in the fray from Kalka, Neeraj Sharma from Faridabad NIT, Aftab Ahmed from Nuh, Geeta Bhukkal from Jhajjar (SC), Bharat Bhushan Batra from Rohtak, and Surender Panwar from Sonipat.
In a big boost to Congress, Olympian wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat joined the Congress earlier in the day.
#WATCH | Delhi | On joining Congress, Vinesh Phogat says, “I thank Congress party…Kehte hain na ki bure time mein pata lagta hai ki apna kaun hai…When we were being dragged on the road, all parties except BJP were with us. I feel proud that I have joined a party which stands… pic.twitter.com/FIV1FLQeXa
— ANI (@ANI) September 6, 2024
Within hours of his joining the party, Bajrang Punia was appointed working president of All India Kisan Congress.
Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Saini said every person has his or her own opinion about which ideology they want to associate with.
However, he took a dig at Congress, saying it has opposed decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
CM Saini’s Dig At Congress
He said Congress should clarify its intention behind inducting senior players.
“Every person has its own opinion about which ideology they want to associate with. Congress should clarify its intention behind this. PM Modi has always taken decisions in the national interest. And Congress has always opposed all of its decisions. So they should clarify as they do politics in the name of players, soldiers and farmers,” he said.
Punia and Phogat joined the Congress in the presence of Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, party leader Pawan Khera, Udai Bhan, and AICC incharge of Haryana Deepak Babaria.
Phogat recalled women wrestlers’ fight over sexual harassment allegations against former BJP MP and former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. “The fight is continuing, it hasn’t ended yet. It’s in court. We will win that fight as well… With the new platform that we are getting today, we will work for the service of the nation,” she said.
“When we were being dragged on the road, all parties except the BJP were with us. I feel proud that I have joined a party which stands with women and is ready to fight from ‘sadak to sansad’…,” she added.
The two well-known wrestlers joined the Congress almost a month before the Haryana assembly polls.
The wrestlers resigned from their respective positions in Northern Railways earlier in the day.
Punia won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, while Vinesh Phogat became the first woman wrestler to reach the Olympics final.
Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling a short while after she was disqualified from the Paris Olympic Games after being found overweight by about 100 gm in her 50-kg category weigh-in ahead of the gold medal match.