New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday morning visited Virender Arya Akhara in Haryana’s Jhajjar district and interacted with the wrestlers including Bajrang Punia. The visit comes amid a fresh row over the Wrestling Foundation of India. The sports ministry suspended the WFI after WFI’s new president Sanjay Singh announced the hosting of the U-15 and U-20 nationals by the end of this year. Wrestlers who accused former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment were miffed over the election of Sanjay Singh as Sanjay Singh is very close to Brij Bhushan. In protest, Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling, Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri and Vinesh Phogat announced she would return her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award.
Bajrang Punia said Rahul Gandhi exercised with him and tried his hand at wrestling with Bajrang. “He came to see what is the day-to-day life of a wrestler,” Bajrang said adding that Rahul Gandhi shot a video at the akara for his YouTube channel.
Rahul Gandhi reached the akhara at 6.15am, coach Virendra Arya told news agency ANI. They were not aware of Rahul Gandhi’s visit, they said. “He told us about his sport and asked us about wrestling. he had roti and saag with us,” a wrestler said.
