‘Discredited’ leaders at dharna site dented wrestler protest credibility: BJP minister Meenakshi Lekhi

Several women wrestlers have accused Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is also a BJP MP, of sexual harassment.

Union minister and senior BJP leader Meenakashi Lekhi said: “The government has a very sensitive approach towards the wrestlers, and women. We are very sensitive to this cause… We are doing everything that needs to be done as per law.”

At Jantar Mantar where the wrestlers are protesting, leaders of several political parties, including the Congress and AAP, have reached out to them to lend support.

“Politicisation of wrestlers protesting with discredited people sitting there has an impact on it. The matter is in court, action is underway, and with these discredited people joining in what more can be said about it,” she said.

Slamming Delhi CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, Lekhi said, “When people who are caught by the ED, who are involved in excise scam and facing heat over a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ of Rs 45 crore reach there, the credibility of the dharna gets dented.”

Kejriwal had met the wrestlers at Jantar Mantar and exhorted people from across the country to reach there to extend their support.

Taking on Kejriwal on the controversy over renovation of his official residence, Lekhi accused the Delhi CM of committing “moral and legal wrongs”. She alleged that Kejriwal arranged “seven-star facilities” for himself by spending Rs 45 crore on the renovation work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She alleged that Kejriwal’s residence was renovated in violation of Delhi Master Plan-2021, which forbids any construction activities without approvals, as it is a heritage area. The approval of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission was also not sought, she claimed.

“What was the need to use marble on the floors or to install a toilet of Rs 4 lakh if the roof of the house was leaking,” Lekhi asked, referring to the AAP’s defence that the renovation work was necessary since the bungalow was built in 1942 and there were incidents of pieces of its roof falling down. Lekhi also accused AAP leaders of trying to divert attention from Kejriwal’s “Sheesh Mahal” by taking cover under the wrestlers’ protest.