‘Wrestlers who want to do politics can do politics’: Sanjay Singh, close aide of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, says after being elected WFI president

“Jinko kushti karni hai woh kushti karein. Jinko rajneeti karni hain woh rajneeti karein. Rajneeti ka jawaab rajneeti ke akhade main diya jaayega (Those wrestlers who want to compete, they should wrestle. Those who want to do politics, should do politics. Those who want to indulge in politics, will be answered in the political arena),” he said after his victory was declared.

Sanjay will take over the reins as the WFI chief from the controversial Brij Bhushan, who had to step aside after India’s top wrestlers like Bajrang, Sakshi and Vinesh led a protest against him. The protesting wrestlers had levelled serious allegations against the multiple-time Member of Parliament, including sexual assault. The BJP MP from Kaiserganj was found liable for prosecution for sexual harassment, molestation and stalking of women wrestlers in the chargesheet of Delhi Police.

Meanwhile, Prem Chand Lochab, who was from the opposing faction seemingly supported by the protesting wrestlers, has been elected as the secretary-general.

Sanjay, who hails from Varanasi, is a close associate of Brij Bhushan. He had told The Indian Express on Wednesday that he was confident of bagging 42 of the 50 votes in the elections. Sheoran, meanwhile, was backed by the protesting wrestlers. The 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist is a witness and a corroborator in the case against Brij Bhushan.

“I am confident of becoming the president of the WFI because I have the support of at least 42 of the 50 members of the electoral college. My panel will sweep the elections. Those who have the best interest of the sport at heart will vote for me. What happened over the past year (wrestlers’ protest) has hurt the sport. I will ensure that no further damage is done,” Sanjay Kumar had told The Indian Express.

A report in The Indian Express earlier this week had said that Bajrang and Sakshi had called on Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur to request him to convince Sanjay to withdraw from the WFI chief’s race.

“Nobody should interfere with elections of a federation if it is happening in a democratic manner. Till now, nobody has asked me to withdraw my name. I have been associated with the Wrestling Federation of India for nearly 12 years. I want to work hard to ensure that the WFI returns to the heights, which our parliamentarian-president (Brij Bhushan) had taken it to,” Sanjay had told Express when asked about the wrestlers’ demands

With the elections for the office bearers in the Wrestling Federation of India having concluded this paves the way for United World Wrestling, which is the global governing body for wrestling, to lift the suspension it had slapped on WFI. UWW had suspended the Indian wrestling body for failing to conduct elections within the deadline that they had set in August.

Consequently, Indian wrestlers had competed as neutral athletes in global events over the last few months.