‘Came as a bombshell to me’: Former Haryana home minister Anil Vij on CM change

The BJP leadership had replaced the then chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar with state BJP president Nayab Singh Saini on March 12 while dumping the party’s junior ally JJP and then deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala. Asked why he had left the March 12 meeting called to choose a new chief minister halfway, Vij said: “I never become upset”.

When asked about Khattar’s statement on Vij’s displeasure, the former minister said: “Pata nahi unka…aankh kahan hoti hai, nishana kahan hota hai (I don’t know about him…looking at one place and aiming at another).”

Asked about the cabinet expansion, Vij said he did not have any information about it. “No one talked to me,” he said.

When asked how a senior leader like him was not invited to the swearing-in ceremony, Vij said: “It doesn’t make a difference because I have said it earlier too that I am a dedicated bhakt of Bharatiya Janata Party. I will do more work for the party than before.”

Asked if he wanted to be inducted into the cabinet, Vij said it was “a hypothetical question”.

Saying that he was “never upset” and was “straightforward”, Vij said “no one has contacted him” to pacify him.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Saini had said that Vij was a “respected leader” and they have been getting guidance from him regularly.

When asked about the possible visit of Chief Minister Saini to his residence in Ambala, Vij said: “I was at home (Ambala). (He) did not talk to me. Had he come, I would have offered him tea. I am thankful to him if he (Saini) says so (that I am a senior party leader). No one is more senior than me in the government.”

Vij also said that he was not aware of party president J P Nadda’s visit to Gharaunda. On Tuesday, Nadda was scheduled to canvass for Khattar, the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Karnal, at a rally in Gharaunda town. However, Nadda could not make it to the rally and the CM Nayab Singh Saini and Khattar addressed the event.