Witness against Brij Bhushan enters race to succeed him as WFI chief | Sport-others News

ONE OF the key witnesses in the sexual harassment case against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, wrestler Anita Sheoran, is in the fray to succeed the BJP MP as the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president.
Anita, the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games gold medall, filed her candidature on Monday, the last day for filing nominations for the August 12 elections.
In case she wins, she will be the first woman to head an ancient India sport whose roots can be traced to all-male akhadas. While the turn of century saw Indian women make a mark internationally, the decision-makers have always been males.
Even for this watershed WFI elections, Anita is the lone woman in the 50-member voters’ and candidates l. The 38-year-old is likely to be up against two from Brij Bhushan’s panel: Olympian Jai Prakash, the president of the Delhi wrestling association, and Sanjay Singh Bhola of Uttar Pradesh.
Both these candidates have had a long association with Brij Bhushan, who is accused of sexual harassment six women wrestlers. The case against the former WFI chief is being heard a Delhi court, which granted him bail about a week ago.
On Monday, the Brij Bhushan camp had a meeting in the capital and claimed that they have the support of at least 20 out of the 25 state units.
“We are confident of doing well. In the next few days, we will finalise who will be the final candidate for the post but regardless, our choice will be unanimous,” said Jai Prakash.

Anita, meanwhile, leads the opposition panel and is understood to have the backing of the protesting wrestlers, who the government had said would have a major say in who occupies the top posts in the WFI. She was also one of the corroborators of the allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan.
In June, the CWG gold medal had told The Indian Express that one of the complainants had called her from a tournament abroad to “share” the incident where Brij Bhushan had allegedly called her to his room and “forcibly” hugged her. On Monday, Anita did not wish to comment.
Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) secretary Prem Chand Lochab, who is with Anita’s panel, is a candidate for the post of secretary general while former wrestler from J&K, Dushyant Sharma, has filed nomination for the posts of vice president and treasurer. Devender Kadian, a hotelier from Haryana, is the panel’s choice for the post of senior vice president.
From Brij Bhushan’s side, Chandigarh’s Darshan Lal has been nominated for the post of secretary general, Uttarakhand’s Satyapal Singh Deshwal for treasurer’s position and West Bengal’s Asit Kumar Saha for senior vice president.
In June, the government assured protesting wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia that none from Brij Bhushan’s family will be permitted to hold any post in the new body.
Brij Bhushan and his son Karan consequently were not named in the electoral roll and even though the BJP MP’s son-in-law Vishal Singh will be representing Bihar, he is not vying for any position.