'Will expose political conspiracy today': WFI president Brij Bhushan Singh says athletes want him sacked

On Thursday night, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur met the agitated wrestlers in a meeting that lasted four hours but failed to make a headway. The minister urged the protesters to wait as the ministry has sought a response from the federation.

Wrestling body chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Friday (January 20) said the charges against him are a part of "political conspiracy". For the past few days, the wrestling body chief has been facing #MeToo allegations. "This is a political conspiracy against me. There is an attempt to malign women wrestlers and the sport," he said, adding he will address a press conference at 12 noon and expose those behind these claims.

Famous Indian wrestlers have been staging a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar for the past two days against the WFI president, accusing him of sexual exploitation and intimidation, and demanding that the federation be disbanded. 

On Thursday night, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur met the agitated wrestlers in a meeting that lasted four hours but failed to make a headway. The minister urged the protesters to wait as the ministry has sought a response from the federation.

The wrestlers are not ready to settle at anything less than resignation of the WFI president.

Addressing the gathering, Babita Phogat, a champion wrestler and BJP leader said that the WFI chief and other officials must be held accountable for the alleged sexual exploitation of several athletes and "harassment of wrestlers by the WFI through its arbitrary rules and regulations".

Vinesh Phogat had earlier said that trainers who are favourites of the WFI mistreat women and harass them. According to a tweet from Babita, a deputy director in the Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Department and a former wrestler, "I have assured them that the government is with them. I will try that their issues are resolved today."