CHANDIGARH: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Tuesday targetted Congress leader Vinesh Phogat following her victory in the Julana constituency during the Haryana assembly polls and alleged that the former wrestler used his name to secure her win.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Brij Bhushan said, “… Many BJP candidates have won on ‘jaat’ majority seats…The so-called wrestlers in the wrestler’s agitation are not heroes of Haryana. They are villains for all the junior wrestlers also… If she (Vinesh Phogat) used my name to win, it means I am a great man who helped her win. She won but Congress lost… ‘Wo jahan jahan jaegi, satyanaash hi hoga’.”
Vinesh Phogat, now a politician representing the Congress party, secured the Julana constituency seat by defeating BJP’s Yogesh Kumar with a margin of 6,000 votes. This victory marks a significant milestone for the Congress, as it is their first win in this seat since 2005. Julana is one of the 90 Legislative Assembly constituencies in Haryana, located in the Jind district and falling under the Sonipat Lok Sabha constituency.
The Election Commission had rescheduled the polling in Haryana to October 5 and the vote counting to October 8. Earlier in 2023, wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia, and Vinesh Phogat participated in a protest against Brij Bhushan, accusing him of sexual harassment of female wrestlers. Two FIRs were registered against the former WFI chief based on the complaints filed by the wrestlers, with one FIR being filed under the POCSO Act in the case of a minor wrestler.
(With inputs from ANI)