A day after Olympians Phogat and Punia joined the Congress party, the senior BJP leader reiterated that former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was behind the plot against him as he had defeated his son Deepender Singh Hooda in the 2012 WFI elections.
“They (Punia and Phogat) were faces… they were mohrey (pawns). They were used as pawns by (former Haryana chief minister) Bhupinder Hooda, the Congress and the Congress family,” he told PTI Videos.
“This was all conspired to take over the Wrestling Federation of India and attack the BJP and its ideology… This team of Rahul, the Congress keeps doing these things,” he said.
It was in 2012 that Singh first gained control of WFI after a bitter turf war with Hooda. He had an ironclad grip on the body before protests began against him last year for allegedly sexually harassing and intimidating female wrestlers.
Olympic bronze medallist Phogat and Punia, along with another Olympic bronze winner Sakshi Malik, led the agitation.
As a result, Singh, who was a six-time Lok Sabha MP from Kaiserganj constituency in Uttar Pradesh, had to resign from the post of WFI chief and is also facing criminal charges in court.
Following his ouster, his close aide Sanjay Singh was elected as WFI chief but the body is yet to receive recognition from the Sports Ministry despite being backed by wrestling’s world governing body UWW.
On Friday, both Phogat and Punia said they would continue the fight against Singh, with the former saying she would ensure that no woman faces what she had to go through.
The 30-year-old, who is a two-time world championships medallist besides being an Asiad gold winner, will contest from Julana constituency in the Haryana assembly elections scheduled for next month.
She recently made headlines for reaching the Olympic final before being disqualified on the day of the showpiece fight for being 100 grams overweight.
Unsurprisingly, Singh dismissed his claims.
“What happened to her? The incident she alleges happened when I was in Lucknow. Time will tell the truth,” he said.
Punia, on the other hand, has been appointed as the working president of the All India Kisan Congress.
Malik, on the other hand, has avoided joining politics, saying he would continue the agitation without aligning himself with any group despite being offered to do so.
However, the Rio Games star, who quit the sport after Sanjay Singh was elected WFI chief, has offered his best wishes to the two wrestlers, calling his decision a personal one.
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