Gurugram: Senior Haryana minister Anil Vij, who often blew hot and cold with former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, is now seemingly miffed with the Nayab Singh Saini-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
On Thursday, Vij told the media in Ambala that he would not attend the grievance committee meetings because his orders were not being followed by the officials.
“I hold Janata Darbar (people’s court) at Ambala Cantonment every Monday but have stopped organising it now. Most likely, I will not be going to preside over meetings of the District Grievances Committees in the future because my orders are no longer followed. The officers don’t listen to my orders,” the Cabinet minister said, adding that there was no point in attending the meetings in such circumstances.
Vij presides over the monthly meetings of the District Grievances and Public Relations Committees at Sirsa and Kaithal districts. The energy, transport and labour minister is scheduled to head the next meetings on Friday.
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Stating that the people of Ambala Cantonment had made him their MLA seven times, Vij declared that he would fight for development projects in his constituency, even if it meant going for a protest.
Giving the example of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on a hunger strike over agrarian issues, Vij said that he too was ready to go on a similar agitation like Dallewal, if necessary, for the sake of his constituents.
Known to be an upright politician, Vij has often been in the news for his propensity to make outlandish statements. The seniormost BJP Haryana MLA, who once famously called himself the ‘Gabbar Singh’ (an iconic Bollywood villain) of Haryana politics, has found himself increasingly pushed to the margins after his run-ins with Khattar.
As recently as in the third week of January, Vij stirred the political waters by urging BJP state president Mohan Lal Badoli to resign until being cleared of rape allegations, currently under investigation by Himachal Pradesh Police.
Contacted by ThePrint, Vij said that he had nothing more to say than what he made known to the media in the morning. The BJP veteran refused to answer a pointed query about whether officials were instructed to not follow his commands.
A close associate, however, told ThePrint that Vij felt he was constantly being humiliated through the non-implementation of his orders given during grievance redressal meetings.
At a meeting of the District Grievances Committee at Kaithal earlier this month, Vij ordered the suspension of an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) for failing to take action against a private school after an eight-year-old child’s death. He had also directed action against the school authorities.
Sources close to Vij told ThePrint that the suspension file was sent to the Home Ministry, which is with Chief Minister Nayab Saini. However, the Home Ministry did not act on Vij’s orders, and the ASI remained in his position.
During the same meeting in Kaithal, Vij had lashed out at the Deputy Commissioner (DC) upon learning that a pollution control board complaint, which he had instructed to be kept pending in a previous meeting, had been dropped by the officer.
“When I had instructed that the complaint be kept pending, how did you drop it? If you are going to make decisions on your own, then what is the need for me to be here?” Vij said angrily.
Over the years, Khattar had faced embarrassing situations due to Vij’s brush with his office on many occasions. In January 2020, the former home minister was upset that the Crime Investigation Department (CID) was not placed under him. This led to a major rift between him and Khattar, prompting the central BJP brass to intervene.
That year, Vij had also clashed with Khattar over a transfer list of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers that was reportedly issued without his approval. He refused to sign it and even wrote in the comments that he had not been consulted. Later, Khattar called Vij to Chandigarh for a discussion, after which a compromise was reached.
Similarly, Vij had walked out of the BJP legislature party meeting in March last year in protest after Saini was appointed the chief minister. He was upset that such a major decision was made without Khattar informing him.
In September last year, the BJP veteran had made it known that he wished to sit in the CM’s chair if the party high command was willing to give the go ahead. But when the Haryana poll results came out the next month, the BJP brass chose Saini as the chief minister for the second time.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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