Railways accept Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia’s resignations, waive notice period
The Railways’ decision comes after there were speculations about Vinesh Phogat being unable to contest elections because of the 3-month notice period norm that must be followed by all employees
The ministry of railways on Monday accepted the resignations of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia who joined the Congress on Friday ahead of the Haryana assembly elections.
Phogat has been given a ticket to contest Haryana election from Julana assembly constituency.
The Railways said that as a special case, it waived off the three-month notice period in their cases. This comes after there were speculations about Phogat not being able to contest elections because of the three-month notice period norm that otherwise must be followed by all.
As per the rules, they can contest elections only after being officially relieved from the Railways.
The order dated September 9 by Northern Railway said, “Resignation tendered by Ms. Vinesh…on 06/09/2024 has been accepted by the competent authority with immediate effect.”
The Northern Railway (NR) had earlier issued show cause notices to them after they met leader of opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi to join his party.
The NR had said the show cause notice was part of the service rules since they were government employees. It was after this notice that both Punia and Phogat resigned from the Railways.