Wrestler Babita Phogat, father Mahavir join BJP

Wrestler Babita Phogat and her father Mahavir Phogat joined BJP on Monday in the presence of senior party leaders.

Babita had made the country proud by bagging a silver medal in the 21st edition of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. Her father and coach Mahavir, a Dronacharya Awardee, is known for training his daughters and nieces in wrestling, and many of them have brought laurels to the country by winning medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Babita has been tweeting and endorsing BJPs policies and vision of its leaders in the recent past. Recently, she came out in support of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who had stoked controversy with his 'lighter remark' on 'Kashmiri girls,'.

The Commonwealth medal-winning wrestler had backed him saying there was "nothing offensive" in what he said.

"Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has not made any such statement that is offensive to our sisters and daughters. I urge the media to not misinterpret his statement," the Arjuna awardee had said while replying to a journalist on Twitter.

The journalist had sought Phogat sisters' response on Khattar's remark, where he said on a 'lighter note' that Haryana can now get brides from Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, under which Kashmiri women used to lose property rights if they marry a person from outside Jammu and Kashmir.

The induction of the Phogats into BJP comes ahead of the assembly poll in Haryana, slated to be held later this year.

Elections are due in Haryana this year for electing members to the 90-member Assembly.