Congress, BJP spar over Sakshi Malik’s remarks

CHANDIGARH: BJP and Congress members sparred over wrestler Sakshi Malik’s statement that the state government had not honoured the promises it made after she won a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The opposition Congress hit out at the Khattar government for failing to show due respect towards sportspersons. Malik had claimed three days ago that she had not received the incentives promised to her by the state government.

Congress MLA Karan Singh Dalal, who raised the issue in the Zero Hour, said Sakshi, who had made the state and the entire nation proud with her feat, was forced to tweet and ask for what should have been given to her much earlier.

Several members of the ruling BJP responded by accusing the Congress of showing disregard to sportspersons during its rule. “We released prize money to players for Asian Games and annual prizes for three years after forming the government,” one of them said.

Sports minister Anil Vij also dismissed the Congress MLA’s allegation, saying that the government gave a cheque of Rs 2.5 crore the day she set foot in India upon her return from Rio.

The minister, who spoke on all the promises one by one, said that Sakshi wanted a suitable job in her own town.

“We have created a special post of director, sports, in MDU, Rohtak. The university’s executive body will meet on March 11. And she will get the job the same day,” he said.

Vij said another issue was regarding prize to her coach and she was asked to give the name of her coach. “She first gave two names, followed it up with names of three coaches and then requested for promotion of another coach. We got a request from another coach from Rohtak, claiming that he was her real coach. We cannot give financial reward to 5-6 coaches,” he said.

When Dalal said she had not been given a plot of land, Vij said that Sakshi was still to submit her application to Haryana Urban Development Authority for the plot at concessional rate. He said the government had also approved Rs 75 lakh for installing air conditioning system in the stadium in Rohtak where she trained. Both Dalal and Vij took digs at each other.