Officials playing dirty games to please CM: Vij
Haryana minister says those officials obstructing his departmental works will suffer heavily
CHANDIGARH: Haryana health and home minister Anil Vij, who is known for his outspokenness, on Wednesday accused a section of the state government officials of blocking works of his department to please chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
“Some officials are obstructing my departmental works to please the CM, as if the CM and I are against each other. They are highly mistaken. The CM and I are good friends. Officials playing this dirty game will suffer heavily,”
Vij, who is in-charge of seven cabinet portfolios and prides calling himself ‘Gabbar of Sholay’, dropped this bombshell via a WhatsApp message.
During the day, Vij, 68, who represents Ambala Cantt assembly segment in the Vidhan Sabha refused to speak on the issue.
While Wednesday’s utterances of Vij will be music to the ears of the Opposition, his move to publicly admonish the bureaucracy for playing dirty games to please the CM is a testament of fault lines widening between the chief minister’s office (CMO) and six-time legislator Vij.
According to people close to Vij, he has been ‘upset’ over the manner in which the CMO has been taking decisions pertaining to health and home departments that Vij holds.
“The impression is also gaining ground that every key decision related to home and health is taken by the CMO. Vij appears to have been sidelined and slighted as well. For instance, during the second wave of Covid-19, the CMO was calling the shots and taking every important decision, while Vij was playing the second fiddle,” sources said, refusing to be identified.
The turf war between Vij and the CMO is not new.
Recently, the difference between Vij and Khattar had come to fore over continuation of director general of police (DGP) Manoj Yadava.
Vij wanted the government to shunt Yadava as the Haryana DGP, but chief minister Khattar firmly backed Yadava’s extended tenure.
DGP Manoj Yadava, the 1988 batch Haryana cadre IPS officer, had joined as the state police chief in February 2019, for two years.
After Vij stoked the controversy, DGP Yadava had sought premature repatriation to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) after which the state government set into motion the process to select his successor. Now, Yadava is set to join the IB and the state government is expected to name the new DGP by this month.
Vij was miffed with DGP Yadava and off late has been displeased with additional chief secretary (health and home) Rajeev Arora.