‘Anil Vij is our leader, will go and meet him’, says Haryana CM Nayab Saini

Chandigarh, March 20

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday said that he will go and meet Anil Vij, saying he is their senior leader and will get guidance from him.

Senior BJP leader and former home minister Anil Vij did not find a place in the Saini-led cabinet.

Vij has apparently been upset with the party not keeping him in the loop when they decided to make Saini the chief minister by replacing Manohar Lal Khattar.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a party meeting in Rohtak, Saini was asked why Vij is upset.

In response to this question, he said, “Koyee naraaz nahi hai (he is not upset). Anil Vij sahab hamare neta hai, varisht neta hai, unka marg darshan milta hai, aagey bhi marg darshan milega. Mein syavam he adarniye Anil Vij ji ke pass javunga. (Anil Vij is our leader, a senior leader, we get guidance from him, in future also we will get his guidance. I will go and meet respected Anil Vij).”

On Wednesday, newly inducted minister Aseem Goel, who is MLA from Ambala City, neighbouring constituency of Vij’s Ambala Cantt, called on Vij at the latter’s Ambala residence.

Earlier on Tuesday, speaking to reporters after taking oath here, Goel had said, “Vij is my elder brother and I have a lot to learn from him and we will move ahead under his guidance.”

During his interaction with reporters in Rohtak, the chief minister reiterated the BJP will win all the 10 Lok Sabha seats from Haryana.

Saini said the people still remember that corruption was rampant when the Congress used to come to power whereas development has been accelerated under the Narendra Modi led dispensation.

“During the Congress’ regime, for one cooking gas cylinder people had to stand in queue for three days. They have not forgotten those days. Whereas our double engine government has done several works. Various beneficiaries are getting services at their doorsteps,” Saini said.

On Tuesday, Saini inducted eight BJP MLAs into his council of ministers, seven of them new faces, in its first expansion a week after he took charge replacing Khattar.

Vij did not find a place in the Saini-led cabinet, though his name was said to have figured in the initial list of ministers. Earlier last week, Saini and five ministers took oath.

In a surprise move last week, the BJP replaced Khattar with OBC leader Saini as Haryana chief minister in a swift switch in the state, just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

On the day of swearing-in of Saini, Khattar, when asked whether Vij’s name was there in the race for the post of a deputy chief minister, had said, “Ministers had to take oath today and his (Vij’s) name was on that (list). But he could not come.”

Asked whether Vij was upset, Khattar had said, Anil Vij is our senior colleague… He sometimes gets upset easily, but he becomes normal later.”

Earlier on Tuesday, when asked about the cabinet expansion, Vij had said, “I have no information.” He, however, asserted that he was not upset.

Vij said that he came to know about it only in the BJP MLAs’ meeting here last week in which Saini’s name was announced.

“It was not in my knowledge that the chief minister of our state was being changed. This came as a bombshell to me that the chief minister was being changed,” Vij had told reporters here.

Six-time MLA Vij had walked out of the legislature party meeting where Saini was unanimously named the chief minister-designate.

Vij, who held the home portfolio in the Khattar government, was often at loggerheads with the chief minister. He was earlier said to be “upset” over being “ignored” by the BJP.