New Delhi: The Railways on Monday accepted the resignations of both the wrestlers, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, as they had resigned from the railways on Friday ahead of joining the Congress party. The latest development came days after the grapplers decided to step away from their government job in railways to join the Congress.
A senior official of Northern Railways told ETV Bharat, “The resignations have been accepted with immediate effect after they deposited one month's salary otherwise they had to serve a three-month notice period for their resignations but now this condition has been waived off.”
“They had resigned from their posts on Friday afternoon and deposited one-month advance salary in the evening on the same day as the next two days were Saturday and Sunday so the railway has accepted the resignations today,” the official informed.
On September 4, the Railways issued show-cause notices to Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia after taking note of media reports and social media posts claiming that both of them joining a political party. They were asked to give their response within 10 days. On September 6, the duo resigned from the railways.
Notably, on Friday, Vinesh and Bajrang joined the Congress at the party headquarters here, ahead of the Assembly elections in Haryana. Election to the 90-member Haryana Legislative Assembly is scheduled to take place on October 5. The counting is scheduled to take place along with Jammu and Kashmir on October 8.
On Friday, before joining the Congress, Vinesh shared a copy of her resignation addressed to the Railways citing personal reasons for her resignation and expressing gratitude to the Railways for giving her the opportunity to serve. After inducting Vinesh and Bajrang into the party fold, Congress general secretary in-charge of Organisations KC Venugopal slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre over the show cause notices.
