- Thursday, May 09, 2024
Vijender Singh, who won a bronze at the Beijing Games in 2008, said he took the decision to quit Indian National Congress and join the ruling party in the nation’s interest.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S Olympic medal-winning boxer Vijender Singh on Wednesday (3) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister Narendra Modi, just a day after reposting a tweet made by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi targeting the PM in Hindi.
Singh joined Gandhi’s Indian National Congress on the eve of the 2019 general elections and also contested from South Delhi constituency but finished a poor third.
Singh joined the Hindu nationalist party in New Delhi in the presence of Vinod Tawde, its national general secretary.
The former Congress member had reposted a Hindi tweet by Gandhi even on Sunday (31) that alleged that prime minister Modi wants to change the Indian Constitution by winning the general elections through “match-fixing”.
Read: What Modi doing is not good for country, says India opposition leader Kejriwal
Singh said soon after quitting the Congress that he joined Modi’s party in the nation’s interest and to serve the people. He added that he wanted to help more and more people.
Read: Overseas Friends of BJP in US holds car rallies in 20 American cities supporting Modi
When he was asked about the recent protests by a number of renowned wrestlers of the country, including Olympic medallists, against the former chief of the wrestling federation who is also a BJP MP, Singh said he would continue to call wrong as wrong and strive towards strengthening athletes.
Singh’s name was doing rounds over the last few days as the Congress’s nominee from the Mathura constituency, as per a report by news agency Press Trust of India.
He hails from the Jat community, known for its significant political sway in several constituencies across the northern state of Haryana, his home state, as well as in the western parts of Uttar Pradesh and in the north-western state of Rajasthan.
Singh also took part in Gandhi ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Unite India March) in January 2023 in his state which aimed at mobilising popular opinion against the BJP.
Several pictures of his march with the Congress leader also went viral on social media.
