Commonwealth Games Gold medalist wrestler Babita Phogat and her father Mahavir Phogat on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Assembly elections in Haryana. The father-daughter duo joined the BJP at an event organized at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi where Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju, was also present. Ahead of the assembly election in the state, two popular faces of Haryana joining the BJP camp will give the party a further push.
Notably, Mahavir Phogat was the chief of the sports cell of Jannayak Janata Party (JPP). His switching over to BJP could prove to be decisive given that the Haryana Assembly polls are only a couple of months away.
When quizzed about the reasons for joining the BJP, Mahavir stated that he was indeed impressed with the development policies and programmes that the Narendra Modi-led government had launched.
Earlier, Babita had publicly supported Haryana Chief Minister’s controversial comments on Kashmiri girls. The wrestler had said that there was in fact “nothing offensive” in what he had said.
हरियाणा के मुख्यमंत्री मनोहर लाल खट्टर जी ने ऐसा कोई बयान नहीं दिया है जिससे हमारी बहन बेटियों के बारे में गलत बोला गया हो मेरी मीडिया से प्रार्थना है कि उनके बयान को गलत तरीके से जनता के सामने पेश ना करें @mlkhattar https://t.co/9nsSYPGRJd
— Babita Phogat (@BabitaPhogat) August 10, 2019
“Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has not made any such statement that is offensive to our sisters and daughters. I urge media to not misinterpret his statement,” the Arjuna award winner had tweeted as a reply to a journalist on Twitter.
Notably, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had stirred a controversy with his remarks that after scrapping Article 370, “the path has been cleared to bring Kashmiri girls for marriage”.
The 90 member Haryana assembly will be re-elected later this year.