‘It appears a resolution is likely’: Union minister from west UP on wrestlers' protest

Union minister Sanjeev Balyan on Wednesday exuded confidence that the impasse between the country's top wrestlers and Union government over the lack of action against the national wrestling body chief was inching towards a resolution.

“It does look like a resolution is around the corner,” Balyan told PTI. The minister's statement came on a day when a meeting is underway between the wrestlers and sports minister Anurag Thakur to discuss the issue.

The BJP leader, however, said he did not know what was discussed between the grapplers and home minister Amit Shah in a late-night meeting on Saturday last week.

When questioned about the athletes' primary demand seeking arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, as well as 'mahapanchayats' being held in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in support of the wrestlers, Balyan said: “I heard a statement of (grappler) Bajrang (Punia) in which he appealed to people not to take decisions on their (athletes') behalf. And when the home minister himself held talks, it means something positive will come out.”

Significantly, Balyan comes from western Uttar Pradesh and is a parliamentarian from the region's Muzaffarnagar seat; the powerful khaps and farmer leaders from that part of the state, along with their counterparts from Haryana, have thrown their weight behind the grapplers.

Singh, who is also from Uttar Pradesh and an MP from the ruling BJP, is facing allegations of sexually harassing seven female wrestlers, including a minor. He has repeatedly dismissed the allegations, saying there was a ‘political conspiracy’ to target him.