Differences between Khattar, Vij come to the fore yet again

CHANDIGARH: Simmering differences between Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and health minister Anil Vij came to the fore once again as the latter stayed away from the state level ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ function which was related to his department at Gurgaon on Tuesday evening.

The programme, where film actress Parineeti Chopra was present as the brand ambassador, was inaugurated by Khattar. US ambassador to India, Richard Ver ma, and women and child development minister Kavita Jain were also be present on the occasion.

The differences between Khattar and Vij had surfaced on July 16, a day after the Haryana government named Parineeti Chopra as its brand ambassador for ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ programme and Vij created a buzz by tweeting: “I do not have any information of anybody appointed Brand Ambassador of my department for Beti Bachao programme”.

Interestingly, Parineeti hails from Ambala district and Vij is five-time MLA from Ambala Cantt constituency. Vij, apparently, had not been taken in the loop before naming her as the brand ambassador.

On Tuesday morning again, Vij tweeted an image of a Hindi newspaper advertisement about the programme in which his name was not there and said that he had neither been informed nor invited to the function at Gurgaon and would be busy attending an official meeting scheduled in Chandigarh.

He also told newspersons that the function was also not in the ambit of the health department.

However, around afternoon, as the news pertaining to differences went viral, he tweeted: “Mukhya mantri mere ghanishth mitra, na unse koi matbhed na manbhed, matbhed ki baat congress ke pite hue mohron ka khel’’ (The chief minister is my fast friend with whom I don’t have any differences and only the defeated pawns of the Congress are trying to spread such talk).

It is not for the first time that Vij has left his own party and the government ‘atwitter’ with his tweets. In the past also, he had tweeted on BJP’s rout in Delhi polls, functioning of the chief minister’s office and even the Olympian pugilist Vijender Singh turning professional. DIFFERENCES WERE VISIBLE DURING GADKARI’S VISIT AMBALA: Tension was visible among top BJP leaders during the Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari’s visit to Saha on July 20, when he had announced highway projects worth over `25,000 crore for the state in the presence of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, health minister Anil Vij, Ambala MP Rattan Lal Kataria and several MLAs.

Sources said during the function, Vij remained aloof to the proceedings and did not even exchange pleasantries with Kataria who was sitting near him and similarly Kataria even did not look towards Vij during the hour-long function.

Also, there was not much conversation between Vij and the CM, they added. HTC

› I have neither been informed nor invited to the function at Gurgaon and would be busy attending an official meeting scheduled in Chandigarh. ANIL VIJ, health minister HEALTH MINISTER STAYS AWAY FROM STATE-LEVEL ‘BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO’ FUNCTION AT GURGAON WHICH WAS RELATED TO HIS DEPARTMENT