Bhubaneswar: Former Indian men’s hockey team captain Prabodh Tirkey joined Indian National Congress on Monday at a programme organised at the Congress Bhawan in Bhubaneswar in the presence of senior party leaders.
Those present at the event included the Odisha PCC president Sarat Pattanayak, Congress’ state in-charge A Chellakumar, Jatni MLA Suresh Routray, Odisha Congress Campaign Committee chairman Bijay Patnaik, former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik and other senior party members.
Tirkey had expressed his desire to join the Congress and contest the 2024 Assembly election from the Talsara constituency in Odisha’s Sundargarh district. Recently, he participated in a protest at Talsara indicating his future plan to join politics.
Though Talsara was a Congress stronghold earlier, the BJP won the seat in the 2019 Assembly elections.
Addressing the media after joining the Congress party today, Tirkey said that he was deeply influenced by Rahul Gandhi. “Inspired by Rahul Gandhi, I joined the Congress party. I have seen that the people of my area are being neglected. Tribal people are also not getting benefits from government schemes,” he said.
Born on October 6, 1984, Prabodh made his debut in the Junior Asia Cup in 2000. He was the national captain of sub-junior, junior, and India-A teams and finally became the India senior team captain. He has played 161 international games in his career.
