Olympic wrestler Bajrang Punia who joined the Congress, has received a threat message over WhatsApp warning him with dire consequences, police said on Sunday.

Punia has filed a complaint at Bahalgarh police station in Sonipat.

A police official said they received a complaint from Punia after which they launched an investigation.

When asked that some reports say that in the threat message Punia was asked to quit Congress or be prepared to face dire consequences, Bahalgarh police station SHO Madan Singh said over the phone, “The matter is under investigation…”

Olympians Punia and Vinesh Phogat entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress.

The party later fielded Phogat from Julana seat for the Haryana Assembly polls while Punia was appointed as working chairman of All India Kisan Congress.

Punia won bronze in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Polling for 90 seats in Haryana will be held on October 5 and the votes counted on October 8.

Gurugram Haryana BJP vice president GL Sharma joined the Congress on Sunday with more than 250 office bearers and several workers of the BJP and other organisations also taking membership of the Congress along with Sharma, the Congress said in a statement.

Sharma was the chairman of the Dairy Development Corporation in the Haryana government. Former CM and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda congratulated GL Sharma on his homecoming to the Congress.

“The Congress is the only party in the country where the interests of all communities are safe. We will all work together to make the state number one again in employment, development, sports and investment,” Hooda said.

Leaving the BJP, Gurugram district secretary Mahesh Vashishth, Rohtak Lok Sabha IT cell head Praveen Mudgil, Beni Prasad Gaur from the legal cell, Prajapati Samaj Gurugram president Bastiram and others joined the Congress, the party added in the statement.

Chandigarh: Wrestler and Congress candidate Vinesh Phogat on Sunday said she expects to win each battle with the blessings of people as kicks off her campaign for the upcoming assembly election.

Phogat (30) has been fielded from the Julana assembly segment for the upcoming assembly poll.

Polling in Haryana will take place on October 5 while the counting of votes for the elections to the 90-member assembly will take place on October 8.

Phogat was accorded a warm welcome when she reached Julana as her supporters, including elderly people and women and members of various ‘Khaps’, greeted her with garlands and gave their blessings.

The Congress had on Friday released its first list of 32 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, naming her among the party candidates.

Olympians Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers’ protest against then WFI chief and former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress.

Standing atop a car, Phogat took the blessings of people who surrounded her four wheeler to get a glimpse of her. Amid beats of a ‘dhol’, her supporters chanted ‘Vinesh Phogat zindabad.’

Replying to a question on former BJP MP and then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Phogat said, “Brij Bhushan is not the country. My country stands by me. My loved ones stand by me and they matter to me.”

Brij Bhushan on Saturday alleged that Phogat and Bajrang Punia were used by the Congress as “pawns” in a “conspiracy” to take control of the WFI and attack the BJP.

To a question, Phogat said, “My loved ones supported me. Like they ensured victory in wrestling (during her sports career), they will continue their blessings here (electoral contest) and with their blessings, we will win every battle.”

Replying to another question, she said the pain of not getting an Olympic medal subsided that very day when the citizens of the country showered love on her after she landed at the airport.

“I have to reduce their (people) pain and it is my responsibility,” she added.

“I am 30 years old and I have come through many challenges. When people are with you, one can overcome any challenge,” Phogat said.

Replying to a question on contesting the elections, she said, “I am feeling happy and I will try to live up to their expectations.”

While the wrestler hails from Balali in Charkhi Dadri district, her in-laws’ home town is Julana. Bakhta Khera village in Julana is the native village of her husband Somvir Rathee.

Later addressing a gathering at Bhakta Khera village, Phogat said she will remain thankful to god if she is able to reduce people’s problems.

“The land of Jind is historic. People here are very brave,” she said as she sought support and blessing of people for the electoral battle and promised that she will stay in village and will always be amongst them.

“It does not matter whether I win or lose (electoral battle). We have a house here and I will stay here,” she said.

She thanked the Congress party for giving her the ticket to contest.

Phogat also said party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had supported them when they were holding a protest in Delhi.

“At that stage we felt that we were lacking courage and also felt that we should leave the country. We were feeling insulted. But Priyanka ji told me not to lose courage and asked us to answer through wrestling,” she said.

“I admire Rahul Gandhi ji. I am seeing that he has been meeting people for the past two-three years and trying to understand their pain,” she said.

She also thanked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and said she assured him to perform any responsibility they entrust with her.

“Your respect will always be above everything,” she told the gathering.

“The country has given me a lot and so has wrestling. Whatever I am today is because of this sport,” she said.

She asked people to back their daughters in achieving their dreams.

Phogat became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the Olympics final, the stage where she was disqualified in Paris after being found overweight by about 100 grams in her 50-kilogramme category weigh-in.

She subsequently announced her retirement from the sport.

Former BJP MP and ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

Gonda (UP): Former BJP MP and ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Friday sought to downplay wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia’s foray into politics, saying any BJP candidate will defeat them if they contest in Haryana and also offered to campaign in the upcoming assembly elections should his party allow.

Talking to journalists at his residence Vishnoharpur, about 40 km from the district headquarters, he said, “These wrestlers made a name in the sport and became famous on the strength of wrestling. Now after joining Congress, their name will be erased.”

Earlier, Phogat and Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers’ protest against the then WFI chief Singh, joined the Congress with a vow of “not being scared or backing off”.

There are indications that both or at least one might contest the October 5 assembly polls in Haryana.

Reacting to this development, Singh said, “These people consider politics to be a wind. They are thinking that they will win the assembly elections from Haryana. They can contest from any assembly seat in Haryana, a small BJP candidate will defeat them.”

He went on to add: “If my party directs, I will also go and campaign in the Haryana assembly elections. I claim that I will get maximum support from the people of their community. I am ready to campaign in favour of the BJP candidate in front of them as well.”

He also claimed that during the Lok Sabha elections, the “people of Haryana were saying that if you come and contest elections from here, we will make you win, but at that time I had refused them”.

Singh said many Congress leaders joined the wrestlers’ protests in the name of getting justice for them.

“One after the other, many wrestlers were made their pawns. The Congress, along with the wrestlers, has destroyed wrestling in this country,” he alleged.

He claimed that during the rule of the Congress, wrestling was not known in the country. “After becoming the president of the WFI, due to my efforts, people started knowing about wrestling in India and wrestlers won medals in international competitions.”

He also said that when the wrestlers were protesting in Delhi, a wrestling competition of junior and senior level was organised in Nandini Nagar (Gonda).

“But these people protested and got that competition cancelled. The result was that junior and senior players could not wrestle at their age,” Singh alleged.

He also reiterated that the protests were a “conspiracy of the Congress”.

“What I said on the first day, I stand by it even today and today the whole country is saying the same thing. Now I don’t need to say much about this,” Singh told PTI.

On Thursday, while speaking with journalists at a smartphone distribution function in a private school here, Singh said, “Senior Congress leaders from Haryana – Deepender Singh Hooda and Bhupinder Singh Hooda – are hatching conspiracy against me.”

At the event, Singh also said, “Now I do not need to say much about this. I will not speak much on this episode, otherwise this thing will reach Haryana immediately. At this time the whole country is waiting for Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh to say something on this issue.”

“When the women wrestlers had levelled allegations against me, I had then said that this is a conspiracy of the Congress,” he said.

“There was a conspiracy against me in 1996 as well. At that time, my wife Ketki Singh had become an MP. I was in Tihar Jail those days as part of a conspiracy. After this, there was a conspiracy against me in 2023 as well. Then my younger son Karan Bhushan Singh became an MP in my place,” he said.

In 1996, Singh was arrested under the TADA law in a criminal case in Mumbai and was then lodged in Tihar Jail. In his place, the BJP fielded his wife from Gonda in the Lok Sabha elections and she was elected.

After the allegations made by the women wrestlers, the BJP did not give Singh a ticket from Kaiserganj and made his son Karan Bhushan Singh the candidate.

Karan Bhushan Singh won the Lok Sabha polls by a margin of over 1.48 lakh votes defeating SP’s Bhagat Ram.

“Before this incident, no one took a selfie with me. Now after this incident, heroes and heroines also take selfies, even saints and sages are taking selfies,” Singh said in his speech.

Chandigarh: A day after the ruling BJP announced its first list of 67 candidates for the October 5 Haryana assembly polls, the party faced rebellion with minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and MLA Lakshman Dass Napa who were denied ticket quitting the party.

Energy and Jails Minister Ranjit Chautala (79), son of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, said he took a decision after a meeting with his supporters and will now enter the fray as an Independent.

Napa quit the party after being denied ticket while former minister Karan Dev Kamboj also stepped down as state BJP’s OBC Morcha chief after party ignored his candidature.

The rebel trouble for BJP started shortly after it came out with the first list of candidates as it left many sulking.

After quitting the party, Napa met former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at his residence in the national capital and later said he will be joining the Congress along with his supporters.

Ranjit Chautala called a meeting of his supporters after the party ignored his candidature from Rania segment in Sirsa district.

“I took the decision after consulting my supporters,” he said when asked about his move.

“I had good relations with them (BJP). They gave me Lok Sabha ticket (from Hisar, which he fought unsuccessfully). But don’t know on whose advice they have acted. I will say anyone who has given them this advice has caused damage to the party,” Chautala said.

“I am Chaudhary Devi Lal’s son. I have some stature… I have decided to contest as an Independent,” he said, while adding he has resigned as minister and quit the BJP.

Chautala was hoping to contest from Rania seat but the BJP fielded Shishpal Kamboj instead.

Ranjit had resigned as Independent MLA from Rania ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to join the BJP and fought the Hisar parliamentary seat unsuccessfully.

Napa, sitting MLA from Ratia reserve constituency in Fatehabad district, said he served his constituency with full dedication and undertook development works. He said he does not know why the party denied him re-nomination from the assembly segment.

Napa said he had met Hooda Thursday morning. “I am joining Congress.”

In another jolt to the BJP after it put out the first list of candidates, former minister Karan Dev Kamboj said he has resigned as state president of Haryana BJP’s OBC Morcha and from all party posts he held.

Kamboj, who was also a ticket hopeful but did not get it, said he had been serving the party over the years with dedication.

“Perhaps the BJP does not need loyalists anymore,” he said, adding the party is rewarding leaders with tickets who joined a day before while ignoring those who served it for years.

Napa, in a letter to state party chief Mohan Lal Badoli shortly after the BJP put out the first list of 67 candidates for the polls, said he was resigning from the party’s primary membership.

A few sitting legislators, including minister Sanjay Singh and former minister Sandeep Singh, do not figure in the first list of BJP candidates.

From Ratia, the party has fielded former Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Duggal was denied re-nomination from the Sirsa parliamentary constituency after former Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, who had joined BJP ahead of the LS polls, was given the ticket.

Tanwar, however, lost to Congress veteran Kumari Selja.

Former Haryana minister and senior BJP leader Kavita Jain, a ticket hopeful from Sonipat, was also sulking after party fielded Nikhil Madan from the constituency.

Addressing her supporters in Sonipat, she turned emotional, and said she had always worked as a dedicated soldier for her party and her candidature should have been considered.

In its first list released on Wednesday, the BJP fielded Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who is the sitting MLA from Karnal, from the Ladwa seat, and rewarded several recent entrants to the party with poll tickets.

The BJP is aiming for a hat-trick in Haryana but faces tough challenge from a resurgent Congress which is looking to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor.

Saini is the BJP’s chief ministerial face for the assembly polls. The counting of votes for the elections to the 90-member assembly will take place on October 8.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said she will not contest the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, pointing out that she would not be able to fulfil her party’s agenda in the union territory set up even if she were to become the chief minister.

“I have been chief minister of a government with the BJP which revoked FIRs against 12,000 persons (in 2016). Can we do that now? I, as the chief minister of a government with (PM) Modi, wrote a letter to separatists to invite them for talks. Can you do that today? I got a ceasefire (implemented) on ground. Can you do that today? If you cannot take back an FIR as chief minister, what does one do with such a post?” she said.

The PDP president was asked if she has had a change of heart on contesting the polls after vice president of arch-rival National Conference Omar Abdullah made a U-turn on his stand of not participating in the polls till Jammu and Kashmir was a union territory.

“Omar himself said that he will have to be at the door of the (lieutenant) governor for transfer of a peon. I am not bothered about the transfer of the peon but can we implement our agenda?” the former chief minister said.

Omar Abdullah, who had vowed not to take part in assembly polls till Jammu and Kashmir remained a union territory, was among 32 candidates named by the party on Tuesday.

The former chief minister will contest polls from Ganderbal where he had won in 2008.

On the alliance between National Conference and Congress for Jammu and Kashmir polls, the PDP president said the two parties have always come together just for the sake of power.

“When we entered into an alliance with Congress in 2002, we had an agenda. We released Syed Ali Geelani from jail. Can you think of doing it today? When we allied with the BJP government in 2014, we had an agenda of alliance in which we had it in writing that Article 370 will not be touched, AFSPA to be revoked, talks with Pakistan and Hurriyat, return of power projects, etc. We had an agenda. However, when Congress and NC form an alliance, it is for power,” she added.

On the possibility of Lok Sabha MP from Baramulla Sheikh Abdul Rashid and senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah being released from jail ahead of the polls, she said it would be a good development.

She urged the government to consider releasing even those lesser known people who are entitled to bail but have been denied it.

“It is very good. I say that you can put a person in jail but you cannot imprison the ideas. Democracy is a battle of ideas. It has been delayed but Engineer Rashid and Shabir Shah should be released along with all those languishing in jails who are entitled to bail but are not even getting that relief.

“The government has been saying time and again that they want to start a process of reconciliation in Jammu and Kashmir. I tell them to open the doors of the jails and the process of reconciliation will start,” she added

Mehbooba said the PDP is fighting for a bigger cause as it is the only party which implements its agenda after coming to power.

“In 2002, we said we would repeal POTA and we did it. We said we will open (cross-LoC) routes and we did it. We said we will facilitate talks and we did it with the Hurriyat Conference. We follow our agenda and even today our agenda is that there is an issue which cannot be resolved without addressing it. And restoration of Article 370 is also important for resolution of this issue.

“We have always fought alone, based on the support of people and for addressing the problems of the people,” she said.

Later two budding politicians joined the PDP in presence of the PDP president.

A photo of DCM Ajit Pawar with NCP leaders Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare

Pune : Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has said the Mahayuti constituents, including the NCP led by him, are free to contest local bodies elections independently.

Addressing Nationalist Congress Party workers in Pimpri Chinchwad city on Sunday, he argued that independent contests would help strengthen the cadres.

“Even though we are allies in Lok Sabha and state assembly, Mahayuti members are free to contest local bodies polls independently,” he said.

The schedule for elections to local bodies, which include municipal councils, nagar panchayats and zilla parishads, is not yet announced.

The ruling Mahayuti alliance includes Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, BJP, and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar.

Notably, Ajit Pawar’s assertion on going solo in the local bodies elections came days after a Marathi weekly linked to the RSS blamed Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s alliance with BJP for adverse public sentiments against the saffron party, leading to the BJP’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

The report said BJP members and other individuals expressed disapproval of the party’s decision to join forces with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which became an ally in the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state in July 2023.

Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar denied stopping his estranged uncle and Rajya Sabha member Sharad Pawar from speaking at a Pune District Planning and Development Committee (DPDC) meeting held on Saturday.

Baramati MP Supriya Sule had claimed that Ajit Pawar had objected to her father asking questions about the disbursal of development funds at the meeting.

She claimed Ajit Pawar had cited a GR (Government Resolution) and said MPs and MLAs cannot ask questions about fund disbursal or vote during these meetings as they are only invitees.

Sharad Pawar had attended the meeting in his capacity as a Rajya Sabha member.

Clarifying his stand, Ajit Pawar said, “Supriya Sule yesterday claimed that I had insulted Pawar saheb. How can I do this to a person for whom I have high respect”.

He alleged that Sule’s statement was aimed at creating misunderstanding and gaining sympathy.

Ajit Pawar said he and another Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Pune on Saturday night and discussed development-related issues.

Addressing a BJP convention in Pune on Sunday, Shah called for a massive mandate to the saffron party-led Mahayuti alliance in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls.

Ajit Pawar also asserted that Pimpri Chinchwad is synonymous with his name.

“Pimpri Chinchwad means Ajit Pawar and Ajit Pawar means Pimpri Chinchwad. No one can deny this fact,” he said in an apparent swipe at Sharad Pawar who had claimed credit for the development of the township.

Addressing a rally in Pimpri Chinchwad on Saturday, the Pawar senior said, “Our government had changed the face of Pimpri Chinchwad. This used to be a collection of small villages. We brought the IT sector here, we gave jobs to youth here”.

Ajit Pawar said “new and old faces” from all sections of the society will be fielded in elections to local bodies whenever they are conducted.

BJP chief JP Nadda with CM Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow (PTI)

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh’s BJP Chief Bhupendra Chaudhary has outlined several critical factors contributing to the party’s underperformance in the state’s recent Lok Sabha elections. The comprehensive 15-page report, compiled from feedback received from 40,000 BJP workers across constituencies, was discussed extensively by the BJP leadership in Delhi.

The report attributes the BJP’s reduced electoral success, securing only 33 out of 80 seats, to a range of issues. Key concerns highlighted include dissatisfaction among party workers towards the government, resentment towards the Agnipath scheme, and displeasure among the Rajput community.

A significant decline in the BJP’s vote share across all six regions of Uttar Pradesh—Western UP, Braj, Kanpur-Bundelkhand, Awadh, Gorakhpur, and Kashi—is also noted. Particularly, the party struggled in the West and Kashi regions, securing only eight seats out of 28, and in Braj, where it won eight out of 13 seats. In Gorakhpur and Awadh, the BJP secured six out of 13 and seven out of 16 seats respectively. In Kanpur-Bundelkhand, the party failed to regain its previous seats, managing only four out of 10.

The report identifies the following factors contributing to the BJP’s electoral setback:

1. Arbitrary conduct of officials and administration within the state.
2. Worker dissatisfaction with the state government’s performance.
3. Persistent issues of paper leaks in government job exams over the past six years.
4. Opposition criticism over the government’s preference for general category candidates in contract job recruitments.
5. Discontent among the Rajput community.
6. Controversial statements made by party leaders regarding constitutional amendments.
7. Early distribution of election tickets leading to decreased worker enthusiasm in the later voting phases.
8. Lingering concerns among government employees regarding the old pension scheme.
9. Controversies surrounding the Agnipath recruitment scheme for military personnel.
10. Allegations of voter list manipulation resulting in the removal of BJP’s core voter names.

The internal review also highlights a decrease in BJP’s support from non-Yadav OBCs (Kurmi, Kori, Maurya, Shakya, and Lodh castes), alongside a noted decline in Dalit vote share for Mayawati’s BSP, which benefited the Congress Party.

The findings of this report were discussed in detail with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP National President JP Nadda.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s top four ministers — Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar — have retained their respective home, defence, finance and external affairs portfolios, according to an official statement.

Among the new entrants to the Union Cabinet, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been given the agriculture and rural development portfolios, BJP president J P Nadda the health portfolio and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar the power portfolio.

Nitin Gadkari will continue as road transport minister, while Dharmendra Pradhan will retain his education portfolio.

Kiren Rijiju has been moved from the earth sciences ministry to the parliamentary affairs ministry, while Arjun Ram Meghwal will continue as law minister. Sarbananda Sonowal has retained the shipping portfolio, according to the statement.

Modi and 71 ministers took oath of office and secrecy on Sunday at a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.