Former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has distanced himself from the wrestling body after it was suspended by the government.
The Sports Ministry has accused the WFI of being under the influence of former members, which is "in complete disregard to the Sports Code".
When asked about the government's decision, Singh claimed that he does not have a say in the matter as the newly elected WFI chief, whose win he was seen celebrating, is not his relative.
VIDEO | "WFI elections were held on SC directions. Further, Sanjay Singh is not my relative. To resume the sports activities and not waste a year of young wrestlers, it was decided to conduct the games in Nandini Nagar. Now, I do not have anything to do with wrestling and have to… pic.twitter.com/8bf9xC0Lnk
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 24, 2023
However, Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by several female wrestlers, backed the WFI's decision to announce the U-15 and U-20 nationals, claiming that otherwise an entire year of many wrestlers would go to waste.
He further said that he is "done" with the sport and the newly-elected body will now take care of it as "he has many more responsibilities to look into", including next year's Lok Sabha elections.
"Whatever has to be done with regards to wrestling in India, it has to be done by the new elected body," Brij Bhushan told PTI.
"I have nothing to do with the sport now. I have other responsibilities to focus now. I will be away from the politics of this sport," he added.
Brij Bhushan's comments came soon after his meeting with BJP chief JP Nadda following Sports Ministry's suspension of the WFI till further orders.
The WFI elections were held on December 21 with Brij Bhushan's loyalist, Sanjay Singh, and his panel winning the polls by big margins.
Brij Bhushan is a sitting BJP MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh.
The top wrestlers of the country -- Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik -- had led the agitation against Brij Bhushan after accusing him of sexual harassment against female grapplers.
Bajrang had returned his Padma Shri award to the government on Friday in protest over Sanjay Singh's election as WFI chief. On Thursday, Sakshi Malik quit wrestling for the same reason.
It has been learnt that the ad-hoc panel, which was led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, will be asked to manage the affairs till suspension is lifted.
(With PTI inputs)
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