Olympics bronze medallist and BJP leader Yogeshwar Dutt has been left out of the party’s first candidate list for next month’s Haryana Assembly elections. This morning, Dutt shared a cryptic post on X, a Hindi poem which translates to: “When the character is pure, why is this your condition? Sinners don’t have the right to test you, set out on a search to find yourself.”

The wrestler, who joined the BJP in 2019, had shown interest in contesting the election from the Gohana seat. Last week, he expressed his desire to run for office to both the chief minister and the central leadership, saying, “I am a sportsperson, an Olympic medallist, and I have contested elections from BJP earlier, so I want to get a chance.”

Despite contesting the seat twice, Dutt failed to win the last time. In the 2019 Assembly elections, he was fielded by the BJP in Baroda but lost to Congress’ Krishan Hooda by nearly 5,000 votes. After Hooda’s death, the seat was up for grabs again in the 2020 by-election, where Dutt lost to Congress’ Indu Raj Narwal.

The BJP has yet to include Dutt in its list, while the Congress has welcomed wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who are expected to contest the Haryana polls.

Dutt was on the opposite side of Phogat and Punia during the protest against former wrestling chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment allegations. Phogat had accused Dutt of intimidating women wrestlers and discouraging them from joining the protests.

The Haryana Assembly elections will take place on October 5, with vote counting scheduled for October 8. There are 90 constituencies in the Haryana Assembly. The BJP released its first list of 67 candidates on Wednesday, while the Congress is expected to announce its list soon.