The Congress on Monday termed "horrible" former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's remarks that the Hooda family used wrestlers as wager just as the Pandavas had put Draupadi at stake, and said if such elements are encouraged in the ruling party, how can one expect women in the country to be safe.

Singh, a former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), was last year accused of sexual assault by several female wrestlers, who sat on a protest for weeks demanding a probe against him.

At his residence in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda on Sunday, Singh told reporters, "In the gambling that took place in the Mahabharat, Draupadi was put at stake. The Pandavas lost. The country has still not been able to accept their reasons for doing so." "The Hooda family put the honour of daughters and sisters at stake. The future generations will not forgive them for this and they will always be held guilty for this," he added.

Asked about Singh's remarks, Congress's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, "Horrible comment made by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Unfortunately, the BJP is unable to tame him. They need to tame him because it speaks poorly of the ruling party of this country." "If such elements are encouraged in the ruling party, how can you expect women to be safe in this country?" Khera told PTI Videos.

Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, an Olympic bronze medallist, along with another Olympic bronze-winner Sakshi Malik, spearheaded the agitation against Singh last year.

The former WFI president said, "Bajrang Punia's mental condition has deteriorated. He had put his wife at stake. I want to ask him why did he take part in the Asian Games without trials?" Asked about the wrestlers' protest in Delhi, Singh said, "There was no wrestlers' protest in Delhi, it was a family protest. When we say wrestlers, a group comes (to mind). Are there no wrestlers in Punjab, Haryana? Are there no wrestlers in Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, (West) Bengal and Himachal (Pradesh)?" He accused Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda of leading the protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar. "Priyanka Gandhi also used to come," he added.

On Saturday, Singh, the former BJP MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh, had said Phogat and Punia were being used by the Congress as "pawns" in a "conspiracy" to take control of the WFI.

Phogat and Punia joined the Congress on Friday with a vow of "not being scared or backing off". Subsequently, the Congress released its first list of 32 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, fielding former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, its state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal and Phogat from Julana.

Singh first got control of the WFI in 2012 after a bitter turf war with Deepender Singh Hooda.

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