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10 days on, CM Saini meets Vij in Ambala
Saini stayed for nearly 40 minutes at his residence, where he touched Vij’s feet twice, was also honoured by the members of the Haryana Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (HSGMC) and local leaders from the community.
Ten days after former Haryana home minister Anil Vij left a party meeting halfway that chose Kurukshetra MP Nayab Saini as new chief minister and later skipped the oath ceremony of the new government, both the leaders met for the first time at the former’s residence in Ambala Cantonment on Friday.
The much-anticipated meeting comes after a series of political developments at the top brass, when Manohar Lal Khattar and his whole cabinet resigned to break alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and make ways for a new government under Saini.
Heavy forces were deployed early morning at Shastri Colony on NH-44, where Vij was waiting outside his residence to welcome Saini with his party leaders.
Saini stayed for nearly 40 minutes at his residence, where he touched Vij’s feet twice, was also honoured by the members of the Haryana Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (HSGMC) and local leaders from the community.
However, there was no close-door meeting, and both denied any discussion on inclusion of the Ambala Cantonment MLA in the cabinet.
Speaking to the media with Vij standing by his side, Saini told the reporters that the former minister is a senior party leader, and he has blessed him during his days as state and district president of the BJP.
“Now, as the party gave me this opportunity (as chief minister), I came here to seek his blessings. He is our senior leader and under his guidance, we will win all 10 seats in the Lok Sabha elections to take forward the initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar,” he said.
When asked about Vij being upset and any discussion over his inclusion in the cabinet or party organisation, the chief minister said that he had just met him to seek blessings.
While replying to a query on why Vij was not informed about the new cabinet and its expansion later, Saini denied and said, “He is our senior leader, and this is not correct that he had no information about this.”
Meanwhile, Vij also refused to divulge much details of the meeting and said, “Mulaqat hui, kuch baat hui.”
He further said, “I was never upset. I am a ‘bhakt’ of the BJP. Such things usually happen, but I do not take them to heart.”
The meeting between the two leaders comes a day after Saini met party’s national president JP Nadda in New Delhi. Ahead of this, he had also met former CM Khattar at his residence in Karnal.
