Former Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij and BJP leader who was excluded from the cabinet after its recent reshuffle, said on Wednesday that some people have made him a ‘stranger’ in his party.
Addressing a public rally in Ambala, the BJP leader, without taking any name, said, “Mana kuch logo ne mujhe meri party mein he begana bana diya hai, parantu kayee baar begane apno say bhi zyada kaam kar jaate hai, (It may be true that some people have made me a stranger in my party, but sometimes strangers do more work than own people).”
Vij was dropped in the newly formed cabinet, leading to disquiet in the state party unit.
Vij had not attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet and left the Legislature Party meeting midway.
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, were 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.