Sakshi Malik to stand against PM Modi, say sources
If things go according to plan, star wrestler Sakshi Malik will stand against Narendra Mod from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency in the upcoming elections to the Lok Sabha, as a candidate for the INDIA coalition.
On which party’s symbol she would fight, it has not been decided yet. But credible sources say she has agreed to the proposal, which came from the coalition soon after she announced her retirement at a press conference. The announcement was in protest against the election of Sanjay Singh to the presidency of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), he being a close aide of the sexual harassment-accused former chief of the organisation, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The germ of the idea for selecting Sakshi came from the suggestion of Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee at the last INDIA coalition meeting. She suggested putting up a female candidate against Modi to rip up the idea the BJP is trying to preach of its being a pro-women party by passing the Women’s Reservation Bill at a special session of Parliament last year.
Sakshi’s retirement supposedly helped the coalition firm up her candidature since she and several other top female wrestlers had accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is a BJP MP, of sexually harassing junior female wrestlers over the years. Looking at his electoral influence over several constituencies in UP and Haryana, the BJP has refused to take any action against him, despite the pomp and the pageant it created over the passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
