Why it won't be easy for BJP to act against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

On Saturday, the senior National Open Ranking Wrestling Tournament began at Nandini Nagar in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda district and it was BJP Lok Sabha member and president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was supposed to have stepped aside until the allegations of ''sexual assault'' of female wrestlers were probed by an oversight committee, inaugurated the championship.

Singh was on the stage along with a couple of local BJP legislators and office bearers of the WFI and oversaw the arrangements of the tournament almost undeterred by the turn of events in Delhi apparently hinting that he was not bothered by the allegations and also that he did not expect his party to favour action against him.

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BJP leaders here also, preferring anonymity, said that it would not be 'easy' to act against the firebrand leader, who was known to speak his mind even if it was against the party leadership or the BJP government in the state.

He had sharply criticised his own government, when floods hit several eastern and central districts in the state, including Gonda, Baharaich, Ayodhya and some others. ''The people have been left on the mercy of the god,'' he had then remarked, criticising the state government for not being able to provide succor to the flood-affected people.

''Singh is not originally a BJP worker.....he does not belong to the party cadre.....he has his own support base in Gonda, Baharaich, Balrampur, Shravasti and Ayodhya districts and is not dependent on us to win elections,'' said a UP BJP leader while speaking to DH here on Saturday.

Incidentally, Singh, who currently is an MP from Kaiserganj Lok Sabha seat in Baharaich district, had earlier represented Balrampur and Gonda LS seats as well. He had also got his wife Ketki Singh elected to Lok Sabha when he was in jail under TADA in 1996. His son Prateek Vardhan Singh is also an MLA.

Sources in the BJP said that Singh was not the kind of person who would take any action against him in his stride. That he had earlier been with other parties and might not hesitate to ditch the saffron party made it even harder for the party to act against him.

''The next Lok Sabha polls are not very far away and we can not afford to lose a leader like him (Singh),'' the BJP leader added.