NEW DELHI, Sep 6 (TIWN): Two top Indian wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia have jolted the ruling BJP party by joining the opposition camp on Friday, extending support to the leading opposition Congress party.

The two westers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia have been in the Olympics and Vinesh Phogat recently flamed uproars nationwide after she was disqualified from Paris Olympics only for being overweight 100 grams on August 7.

The opposition Congress party accused the ruling BJP Govt of not doing enough to support the wrestlers facing times.

These two popular wrestlers had played a key role in the 2023 protest which Indian wrestlers organized over bringing sexual harassment accusations against the then federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Vinesh Phogat (30) hails from Haryana is an Olympian and multiple Commonwealth Games gold medallist who won gold in 2014, 2018, 2022. She became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold medal at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Bajrang Punia (30), is also an Indian state Haryana resident won bronze in 2020 Tokyo Olympics by defeating Kazakhstan's Daulet Niyazbekov with an 8–0 margin. Punia is the only Indian wrestler who won four medals at the World Wrestling Championships. He is a recipient of Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India but he gave up the award condemning the selection of a close aide of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh as Wrestling Federation of India chief.

After joining the party at Congress headquarters in Delhi, Vinesh Phogat said, “First I want to express my gratitude to the people of the country and the press, who have been always with the wrestlers throughout our journey. I hope I can fulfill my duties in the coming days.”

“I also thank the Congress party for supporting me. Because, it is said, only in bad time, you realize who are your true friends. When we were protesting on the road (2023 protest against sexual harassment case) except BJP, all other parties came forward to support us. They (opposition parties) realized the pain in our tears. I am very proud to stand with a party that has been firm in supporting women and always against injustice to women.”

Barjan Punia said, “Today BJP IT-cell is accusing our intentions to be in politics but the fact is that we invited them through letters which they denied to reciprocate. We sent letters to all women MPs but they did not meet us.”

“So the nation should rethink whom they would support. Whether they should support the people who are against women, farmers or soldiers or they should support the people who are standing beside them,” said Punia, adding further, “We all fight together and always will raise voice for justice.”

As India has a Federal system, the country has 28 states where state elections are held every five years.

BJP ruled stated Haryana has been scheduled for Election on October 5 for 90 legislators posts. Opposition Congress and Aam Admi Party (AAP) are now discussing seat sharing as a part of the united opposition strategy to unseat the ruling BJP.

In India, there are various political parties, and often these parties align with other parties before elections and share seats to achieve the best possible outcomes from the polls. The BJP led by PM Narendra Modi is also aligned with other parties and formed the NDA Govt. If the majority of the NDA coalition withdraw support, the government will fall.