Even as the clamour for his arrest continues to grow following charges of alleged ''sexual assault'' by some female wrestlers, Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh held a rally in his Lok Sabha constituency of Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh's Baharaich district, on Sunday in an apparent show of strength aimed at what the political analysts here opined sending a message to the BJP that he still called shots in the region.
The presence of a Madhya Pradesh minister, five UP BJP legislators besides local office bearers of the saffron party and a large number of BJP workers was reflective of the clout of the firebrand BJP MP.
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In his speech, the WFI chief refrained from mentioning the wrestlers' protests and did not seek to refute the allegations but focused his attack on the Congress while heaping praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Singh, however, did make a veiled reference to the situation he found himself in through some couplets drawn from the Hindu epic 'Ram Charit Manas''. ''Hoiyhen wahi jo Ram rachi rakha, ko kari tarak badhawe sakha'' (whatever the god wills will happen and so there is no use arguing over it), the beleaguered WFI chief said.
MP minister Mohan Yadav, UP BJP legislators Prem Narayan Pandey, Bawan Singh,Subhash Tripathi, Ajay Singh and Awadhesh Kumar Singh were present on the stage at the rally.
Even though Singh, who was earlier denied permission to organise a rally in the temple town of Ayodhya, said that the rally was organised to mark completion of nine years of BJP government at the centre, sources close to him said that the 'irrepressible' MP wanted to showcase it as his 'popularity among the people of his constituency.
BJP leaders had earlier admitted that Singh was not the kind of person who would take any action against him in his stride. That he had earlier been with other parties and might not hesitate to ditch the saffron party made it even harder for the party to act against him.
Barely a few days back, Singh had claimed support of Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav on the wrestlers' protest issue saying that the latter 'knew' the 'truth' ''I have known Akhilesh since childhood... he knows the truth... 80 per cent wrestlers from UP believe in socialist ideology,'' Singh had said.