Haryana’s Home Minister Anil Vij on Thursday said that he and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar may have different views on certain issue, but their resolve is to run the government strongly and ensure the development of state.
Chief Minister Khattar (67) and Vij (68), the six-time MLA, addressed a joint press conference here on the drugs issue during which they were asked questions about the blow hot blow cold relations between them.
Vij said he shares a good friendship with Khattar (67).
When a reporter said it was a “historic occasion” that both were jointly addressing a news conference, Khattar smiled and said, “Why are you saying it is a historic occasion? Are we sitting together for the first time? I have known Vij sahab since he first contested the polls from Ambala in 1990.”
When a reporter said there is always great media speculation on their relationship and it could be a matter of research, Khattar told in a lighter vein, “Do you want to do a PhD?”
Vij intervened, “I want to tell you that with CM Sahab, I have good friendship and an old one. We may have different views on certain issue, but our resolve is to run the government strongly and undertake the state’s development.”
Khattar quipped, “Vij Sahab tells you his mann ki baat and I tell my mann ki baat to Vij sahab.”
Khattar added, “We meet regularly, we talk regularly and we hold programmes together.”
Asked about Vij denying having any knowledge about a communication from a senior Haryana Police official to the Rohtak Range commissioner on Dera Sacha
Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s threat perception, Khattar said the issue was more related to the jail department and local administrations of Rohtak and Gurugram than the police department.
Vij, being the Home Minister, is in-charge of the police department.
Until December 2021, Vij also held the Urban Local Bodies department which was reassigned to a newly inducted minister Kamal Gupta.
Vij had then said if Khattar so wishes, he was willing to give up all his portfolios, why just one or two.
After the reallocation last year, Vij holds Home, Health, Ayush, Technical Education, and Science and Technology portfolios.
Earlier in 2020, after the tug-of-war with Khattar for days over the control of the CID, Vij was stripped of the charge of the department and it was later allocated to the chief minister.
Vij had then expressed unhappiness over not being briefed or given feedback on various issues by the CID.
However, after being stripped of the CID department charge, Vij had said he has always maintained that the chief minister is supreme and can take away or divide any department.
In July 2021, Anil Vij had alleged that some officers are obstructing his departmental work to ?please? Khattar as they think that there are differences between the two. He had made this remark after a tussle with the chief minister over Director General of Police Manoj Yadava’s tenure.
Khattar was keen on retaining Yadava as the state police chief while Vij was in favour of replacing him after his two-year term ended earlier this year.
In 2015, when actress Parineeti Chopra was announced as the brand ambassador for ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ campaign by the Haryana government, Vij had said he was not informed about the decision by chief minister Khattar.
In February 2015, less than three months after the BJP came to power in Haryana for the first time on its own, Vij, who then held Health, Sports and Youth Affairs, had taken a veiled dig at the chief minister on Twitter, saying, “Thank you chief minister for taking a keen interest in my departments. I’m relaxed.”
Vij was then apparently upset with Khattar who then launched a number of programmes and schemes pertaining to the departments handled by him.
Vij was among the front-runners for the chief minister’s post after BJP’s win in the 2014 Haryana Assembly polls. Khattar, who was then a first-time MLA, emerged as the party’s choice for the top post.
