Accomplished wrestler Babita Phogat and her father MahavirSingh Phogat joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the party headquartersin the national capital on Monday. They were inducted into the ruling party inthe presence of Union minister Kiren Rijiju.

The Phogats joining the BJP was confirmed on microbloggingsite Twitter by the official handle of the party. Speaking at the event, Rijijusaid that the party was happy to induct the Phogats. He showered praises onMahavir Singh Phogat, calling him a role model for the society. "The wayhe created champions from a small village, I laud his efforts," saidRijiju. The minister also expressed happiness over Babita joining the BJP.Referring to the award-winning wrestler as a youth icon, Rijiju said that shecan continue to be connected with the sports world after joining the BJP.MahavirSingh Phogat was earlier a member of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which wasfounded by Dushyant Chautala in Haryana in December 2018. Phogat was made thehead of the sports wing of the party.Babita Phogat, who is an award-winningwrestler, has been a vocal supporter of the BJP. After Prime Minister NarendraModi-led NDA government at the Centre scrapped Article 370, which providedspecial status to Jammu and Kashmir, she had voiced her support onmicroblogging site Twitter.After the announcement by Home Minister Amit Shah onJammu and Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha, Babita had tweeted in Hindi, “This daywill always be remembered. Salute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah. Jai Hind.”

She had also backed Haryana Chief Minister and BJP leaderManohar Lal Khattar over the latter’s remark on “Kashmiri brides”, which hadtriggered a political row. She had said that the Haryana Chief Minister had notgiven any statement which portrayed women wrongly. She had urged media to notdistort the BJP leader’s comments.