Wrestler Vinesh Phogat Quits Railways, Expected to Join Congress

Former wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Friday tendered her resignation from Northern Railways, where she was working as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Sports in level 7.

"Serving Indian Railways has been a memorable and proud time of my life. At this point in my life, I have decided to separate myself from the railway service and have submitted my resignation to the competent authorities of the Indian Railways.

"I will always be grateful to the Indian Railway family for this opportunity given to me by the Railways in the service of the nation," Vinesh wrote on X.

Vinesh is expected to join the Indian National Congress on Friday. She is likely to contest the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections.

On Wednesday, Vinesh along with Bajrang Punia met the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The meeting comes a day after the Congress’ Central Election Committee (CEC) convened to finalise the list of candidates for the October 5 elections.

It is learnt that Congress may offer either the Charkhi Dadri or Julana seat to Vinesh.


The ace wrestler missed the opportunity to win a gold medal in the women's freestyle 50kg category in the Paris Olympics after getting disqualified from the final for being 100gm overweight.

Following the major heartbreak at the grand sporting arena, Vinesh took to social media to announce her decision to retire from wrestling. --IANS