Former BJP MP and ex-president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, has been inducted for the first time into the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh state executive committee. The development
comes nearly three months after a Delhi court acquitted him in a sexual harassment case filed by a group of women wrestlers.
According to sources, Singh’s name appears on the new state executive committee that UP BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary constituted on October 26, The Indian Express reported.
The panel was formed ahead of a meeting scheduled for Friday in Lucknow, where the party will discuss its strategy for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address the inaugural session of the day-long meeting, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will deliver the concluding address. The BJP’s state office-bearers met on Thursday to finalise the agenda.
Singh is among seven BJP leaders from Gonda district who have been included in the state executive committee.
“He is a former MP and an active leader with a political career spanning over four decades. But this is the first time he has been made a member of the BJP state executive committee,” the publication reported, citing a party leader.
Sources said that despite serving as a six-time MP, Singh had not previously held any position in either the BJP’s national organisation or its state unit.
Brij Bhushan Denied BJP Ticket In 2024 Lok Sabha Elections
The BJP had dropped Singh from its list of candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections following the sexual harassment allegations against him. Instead, the party fielded his younger son, Karan Bhushan Singh, from the Kaiserganj constituency, which Brij Bhushan had represented in the past.
During the election campaign, the former MP restricted his campaigning to Kaiserganj. Addressing voters there, he said he was in “sankat (trouble)” and described his son’s victory as “a slap in the face” to those attempting to “end his political career”. Karan Bhushan Singh went on to win his first electoral contest.
“He was denied a BJP ticket in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls because of the sexual harassment allegations,” said a senior BJP leader. “Now that the court has acquitted him, he is legally in the clear and may actively participate in BJP programmes. He may also seek the BJP ticket for the 2029 Lok Sabha election instead of his son. The party, too, will have little hesitation in fielding him again or sending him to campaign elsewhere.”
Singh, who has won five Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket and one as a Samajwadi Party candidate, continues to be an influential political figure in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Court Acquits Brij Bhushan In Sexual Harassment Case
UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi described the allegations against Singh as part of a “political conspiracy”, adding that the courts had acquitted him.
On August 3, a Delhi court acquitted the former BJP MP in the sexual harassment case, more than three years after six women wrestlers levelled allegations against him, triggering widespread outrage.
However, the trial court’s acquittal has since been challenged. On October 28, a Delhi court granted Singh one week to respond to an appeal filed by four women wrestlers challenging the acquittal.
Drawing comparisons with opposition leaders, Tripathi said, “Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav makes Azam Khan the party general secretary and star campaigner even though he is convicted and is in jail. Likewise, Rahul Gandhi meets RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav to learn mutton recipes even though Yadav has been convicted in a case,” he said.
Singh was unavailable for comment. His representative, Sonu Singh, said the former MP was travelling in Punjab.
BJP Expands Uttar Pradesh State Executive Committee
The BJP has significantly expanded its Uttar Pradesh state executive committee. While the previous panel comprised 184 members, the newly constituted body has 712 members, including 134 special invitees and 30 permanent invitees, according to the list available on the UP BJP website.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, has been included as a permanent invitee. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and former BJP national president Murli Manohar Joshi are also part of the committee.
Among the districts, Varanasi, the Prime Minister’s parliamentary constituency, and Gorakhpur, Adityanath’s home turf, have the highest representation in the expanded state executive.
