Haryana: CM Saini meets Anil Vij amid disquiet in BJP over former home minister’s omission from new cabinet

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Friday met Anil Vij, the former state home minister and one of the senior-most BJP leaders, who was dropped in the newly formed cabinet, leading to disquiet in the state party unit.
The meeting of the two leaders came days after Vij’s exclusion from the new BJP cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, leaving many surprised. The meeting took place at Vij’s residence in Ambala.
Vij had not attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet and left the Legislature Party meeting midway.
However, after Friday’s meeting, the Haryana CM said that Vij has always blessed him as a senior leader.
“Anil Vij is our senior leader. I have always been seeking learnings from him… He has always blessed me… We will win all 10 Lok Sabha seats under his guidance…” Saini said.
“I express my gratitude to you from the bottom of my heart for your love, blessings and good wishes @anilvijministerji,” Saini said in a post on X, posting a video of the meeting, wherein he can be seen touching the feet of Vij.
State BJP chief Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the CM just weeks before the Lok Sabha polls.
As many as eight Cabinet members including the CM are new faces. Seven out of eight ministers, who were inducted on March 19, are two-term MLAs.
However, the former state home minister could not find a place for himself in the new cabinet.
The omission of Vij, who was the Haryana home minister, was even more surprising because there was speculation that he would be one of two deputy chief ministers appointed by the BJP after the post was vacated by Dushyant Chautala of the Jannayak Janta Party.
A visibly upset Vij left midway from the BJP Legislature Party meeting, which elected Saini as its new leader, and did not attend his swearing-in ceremony held later in the day.
When the BJP won a majority in the 90-member Haryana Assembly in 2014 for the first time, Vij was seen as a front-runner for the chief ministerial position. But, the party picked first-time MLA Khattar for the job.
In the 2019 polls too, Khattar again beat Vij in the race, with the latter allotted key portfolios like home and health