Brijbhushan calls off meet to 'Expose political conspiracy'

BJP MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, accused by wrestlers of sexual and other forms of harassment in his capacity as president of the Wrestling Federation of India, on Friday cancelled a scheduled news conference in Gonda, where he was supposed to 'throw light on the political motive' behind the allegations.

After repeated postponements during the day, Singh's son, BJP MLA Prateek Bhushan Singh, announced late on Friday evening that the WFI chief will speak only after January 22. According to one of his aides, the federation is scheduled to hold a meeting on Sunday and Singh decided to not speak before the meeting.

Singh had posted on Facebook that he would hold a news conference to 'expose the conspiracy against him' and the sport, as well as the 'political conspiracy' that had 'staked the honour' of women wrestlers. However, the event was put off multiple times during the course of the day until Prateek Singh said well past 7pm that Singh had cancelled the event.


Singh denied suggestions that he had spoken with Union home minister Amit Shah, while answering queries of journalists earlier in the day. To a question related to wrestler Anshu Malik's claim that the WFI president made women wrestlers 'uncomfortable', by staying in the same hotel as the wrestlers during the world junior championship in Bulgaria last year, Singh said that the accommodation was not made by WFI, but the organiser of the event, and the one who made the claim was not part of the championship.

One of Singh's aide claimed that top wrestlers were upset over changes in the national policy, particularly the clause that those competing internationally would need to participate in national tournaments. Earlier, a player who competed internationally was automatically selected for the next tournament abroad. Even if a player lost a bout, s/he was given another chance for a tournament abroad.

Meanwhile, Olympian wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Ravi Dahiya, and Deepak Punia wrote to Indian Olympic Association chief PT Usha on the "sexual harassment" complaints against Singh.The letter accused Singh of sexual exploitation and financial irregularities. The letter signed by Bajrang, Vinesh, Sakshi, Ravi Dahiya, and Deepak demands the resignation of the WFI chief and the formation of an inquiry committee on the allegations of sexual harassment.