Hoodas used wrestlers like Pandavas Draupadi: Brij Bhushan attacks Congress

Former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Sunday accused the Hooda family of Congress MPs of conspiring against him by using wrestlers as bets, just as the Pandavas had bet Draupadi.

Singh, a former chairman of the Wrestling Federation of India, was accused of sexual assault by several female wrestlers last year. The fighters held a protest rally for weeks demanding an investigation into him.

Speaking to reporters at his residence on Sunday, he said, “In the gamble in the Mahabharat, Draupadi was put at stake. The Pandavas lost. The country is still unable to accept their reasons for doing so.”

He added: “The Hooda family… has compromised the honour of their daughters and sisters. The future generation will not forgive them and they will always be guilty for this.”

Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, an Olympic bronze medalist, and Sakshi Malik, another Olympic bronze medalist, have been the driving forces of the movement over the past year.

Singh said, “Bajrang Punia's mental state has deteriorated. He has put his wife at risk. I want to ask him why he went to the Asian Games without any tests.”

When asked about the wrestlers' protests in Delhi, Singh said, “There were no wrestlers' protests in Delhi. They were family protests. When we say wrestlers, a group comes. Aren't there wrestlers in Punjab, Haryana? Aren't there wrestlers in Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Himachal?”

He accused Congress leader Deepender Hooda of leading the protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. “Priyanka Gandhi also came.”

On Saturday, Singh, the former BJP MP from Kaiserganj, had said that Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia were being used by the Congress as “pawns” in a “conspiracy” to take control of the Wrestling Federation of India.

Singh first took control of WFI in 2012 after a bitter turf war with Deepender Singh Hooda.

The unrest forced Singh, who had been a six-time Lok Sabha MP from Kaiserganj constituency, to resign from his post as WFI chairman. He is currently facing charges in court.

After his ouster, his close associate Sanjay Singh was elected chairman of the WFI. However, the organisation is yet to receive recognition from the Sports Ministry, despite the support of the World Wrestling Federation, UWW.

On Friday, Phogat and Punia joined the Congress with a promise “not to be afraid or back down”.

The Congress subsequently released its first list of 32 candidates for the Haryana Legislative Assembly elections. It fielded former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, state chief minister Udai Bhan from Hodal and Vinesh Phogat from Julana.