India's ace wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat are going all out to ensure that the outgoing WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's close aide Sanjay Singh doesn't become the next chief in the elections to be held on Saturday, August 12. Bajrang and Vinesh, who were at the forefront of the 38-day wrestlers' protest at Jantar Mantar against Brij Bhushan on the allegations of sexual harassment, are making last efforts to not let Sanjay, who is the BJP MP's loyalist, become the next WFI chief while throwing their weight behind the rival candidate, the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran.
The wrestlers met the Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur regarding this matter on Thursday, August 10 and were hopeful of getting a meeting fixed with Home Minister Amit Shah.
Speaking to PTI, a source close to the development said that the wrestlers conveyed their reservations about Sanjay Singh becoming the next WFI president as even though they demanded that none of Brij Bhushan's family members, the former is his close aide and he too shouldn't contest the elections.
"The wrestlers conveyed their misgivings about Sanjay Singh from the Brij Bhushan camp getting elected to the post of president. The wrestlers said that while they had demanded none of Brij Bhushan's relatives should contest the WFI elections, it also implied that none of his close aides should contest the polls," the source said.
"And, Sanjay Singh is a close aide of Brij Bhushan. He is probably a business partner of the BJP leader. They have a problem with him becoming WFI chief," the source further added.
The report further stated that the wrestlers were only concerned about the president's post as they want Sheoran to become the chief, irrespective of who becomes secretary, treasurer, joint secretary or senior vice-president.
However, a source from Brij Bhushan's side asked the wrestlers to withdraw their sexual harassment charges against the outgoing WFI president if they want Singh not to contest elections.
In other news, both Bajrang and Vinesh, who were given an exemption from the Asian Games trials are likely to skip the World Champions trials as well.
(With PTI inputs)
