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Anil Vij alleges internal conspiracy to defeat him in 2024 polls
Sharpening his attack on his own party (BJP) and chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, state cabinet minister Anil Vij on Monday shared some pictures, claiming that “workers” seen with a “friend” of the CM were also seen with an Independent candidate whom he defeated in the state assembly polls last year.
Sharpening his attack on his own party (BJP) and chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, state cabinet minister Anil Vij on Monday shared some pictures, claiming that “workers” seen with a “friend” of the CM were also seen with an Independent candidate whom he defeated in the state assembly polls last year.
Vij won the Ambala Cantt constituency defeating Independent candidate Chitra Sarwara and became an MLA for the seventh time.
In a post on X, Vij said, “Ashish Tayal, who calls himself a friend of Nayab Saini, has many pictures with Nayab Saini on Facebook. The same workers who are seen with Ashish Tayal during the (October) assembly elections are also seen with the BJP’s rival candidate Chitra Sarwara.”
“Yeh rishta kya kehlata hai?’ (What is this relationship called?) Tayal is still Nayab Saini’s best friend, so the question arises who made him oppose the BJP candidate?” Vij said in a post along with some pictures on X.
Vij also shared a video with the word “traitor” playing repeatedly and an old Hindi song “Kya miliye aise logon se”.
The same video has been shared widely by people close to Vij. However, Tayal, the leader accused in the video, was removed from the post of district treasurer by the BJP leadership the same day Vij threatened to go on a fast-unto-death. Tayal could not be reached out, however, in the past he has rubbished all the allegations against him.
This comes a day after Vij, the minister for energy and transport and senior-most MLA of the BJP, had said in Rohtak that “the chief minister can snatch my ministerial post. It won’t make any difference, but he can’t snatch my seniority and MLA’s post which have been given by voters of the Ambala Cantonment.”
Earlier last week, he had hurled “udan khatola” barb at the CM, saying he (Saini) will come to know about people’s pain only after he gets down from his helicopter.
The Ambala Cantt MLA had also said that he had a doubt that during the elections, a senior leader tried to ensure his defeat and “even orchestrated an attack to kill him.”
The minister had also threatened to go on hunger strike over alleged non-compliance of his orders by government officials at the meetings of grievance committees and ‘janata darbar’.
There has been no response from the government or the party over Vij’s outbursts so far. Saini has maintained that “Vij is our honourable leader.”
Moreover, apart from order against Tayal, the state government had issued transfer orders against Ambala DC and there have been reports on action against an official in Sirsa, where Vij was scheduled to chair the meeting of grievance committee last week, but skipped.
Till Vij is in BJP, no need of opposition: Sarwara
Reacting to the video, Sarwara, a former Congress leader who contested against Vij as an Independent, took a dig at him and said that till he is in the BJP, there is no need of opposition in the state.
“He should clarify whom he is calling a traitor. He should stop picking 5-10 workers and rather bring out the list to corner 13,000, who voted against him... He is misusing his power to intimidate and humiliate people,” she said in a statement.
BKU to meet minister
State president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)’s Tikait group Ratan Mann said that a group of farmers will visit Vij’s residence on February 9 to persuade him.
He said that ever since Vij announced not to attend the meetings of the District Grievance Redressal Committee and his “darbar” in Ambala, the farmers, labourers and the common man of the state were upset.
Past controversies with Khattar, Saini
Vij had often been at odds with Manohar Lal Khattar when he was Haryana’s chief minister. Khattar is currently serving as a Union minister.
Vij’s disagreements with Saini are also not new. In March last year, when the then Karnal MLA Manohar Lal Khattar was abruptly replaced with Saini, who was an MP from Kurukshetra, Vij did not attend the swearing-in ceremony of the latter and the new cabinet.
A day earlier, he walked out of the legislative party meeting being chaired by central observers as soon as Saini was picked as the CM.
Conducts raids to check overloaded vehicles
Vij on Monday conducted a raid on the Ambala-Naraingarh road in Ambala City to check overloaded vehicles. He stopped several trucks and inspected their documents in the presence of officials from the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) and local police. According to a statement, many drivers of the vehicle that Vij checked failed to present their papers, and several vehicles were found with irregularities. Vij also instructed all department officials to set up checkpoints and rigorously inspect vehicles.
