NEW DELHI: With their main demand for the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh remaining unfulfilled, wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik and their supporters are in for a further setback.
The wrestlers have already made peace with the fact that the WFI chief will not be arrested as the Delhi Police have recommended dropping of POCSO charges against the BJP MP. The police have charged him with sexual harassment and stalking six women wrestlers in a 1,500-page chargesheet.
Now, the wrestlers’ priority is that no one from Brij Bhushan’s family or his close associates should get elected to the new executive body that will assume office after the July 6 elections. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur had assured them on June 7 that they would not allow Brij Bhushan’s family members or his associates to contest the WFI elections.
This rules out his son Karan Bhushan and his two sons-in-law Vishal Singh and Aditya Pratap Singh, besides his close associates former Olympian Jai Prakash, who heads the Delhi unit, and Uttarakhand secretary Satya Pal Singh Deshwal from taking over.
“We had identified five persons whom we don’t want to be part of the new body,” said a coach close to the wrestlers.
However, a look at the WFI-affiliated state and UT bodies clearly shows that whosoever takes over will be an aide of Brij Bhushan. As of now, there are 25 affiliated units of the WFI. The units will send two names, who are members of their executive bodies, to be part of the WFI electoral college. The WFI bylaws stipulate that only those who are part of the executive bodies of the state of UT affiliates can take part in the elections.
The full list will be officially out on June 22 as per the election notification released by Justice Mahesh Mittal Kumar (retd), who has been appointed as the returning officer. Except Maharashtra, where there is dispute about the validity of the state unit, and Punjab, which is headed by two-time Asian Games medallist Kartar Singh with whom the outgoing WFI chief has a strained relationship, all 23 bodies are likely to vote for Brij Bhushan’s candidate.