Setback to Congress! Boxer Vijender Singh ditches Congress, joins BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections

In a setback to the Indian National Congress, boxer Vijender Singh has switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. After joining BJP, Singh said, “I have joined the BJP in the interest of the nation and to serve the people. I want to help more and more people.”

Singh, who was earlier in Congress, contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from South Delhi but lost to BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri who also won against Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Raghav Chadha.

Joining the BJP in the presence of party General Secretary Vinod Tawde on Wednesday, the boxer said in Hindi, "This is like a ghar wapsi (homecoming) for me. I had contested the elections in 2019. It is good to be back. The way sportspersons are getting respect in the country and abroad now is commendable. When we used to go abroad to fight earlier, to the UK and Dubai, for instance, certain things would happen at the airports sometimes. But since the BJP and the (Narendra) Modi government came to power, we can go anywhere easily."

"I would like to thank PM Modi and the BJP for the respect that sportspersons get under this government. I would like to be a part of this government, help people and show them the right path. I am the same Vijender that I was and will call a spade a spade," he said.

Reports suggest that Singh was being considered to contest the upcoming polls as the Congress party's nominee from Mathura, from where BJP MP and actor Hema Malini is contesting again.

Singh comes from the Jat community, which has political influence in a large number of seats in Haryana, the state he comes from, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.