Gurugram: Days after posting about “some people running a parallel BJP with blessings from above” in Haryana’s Ambala Cantonment, state minister Anil Vij has removed the word “minister” from his profile name on X, in a move that has set tongues wagging.
Vij, 72, holds the power, transport and labour portfolios in the state and is a seven-term MLA from Ambala Cantonment. He changed his profile name from ‘Anil Vij Minister Haryana, India’ to ‘Anil Vij Ambala Cantt Haryana, India’.
Contacted by ThePrint Thursday, he said he had removed the word “minister” from his profile name because he wanted his followers and viewers to know him as Anil Vij, an individual, rather than Anil Vij, the minister.
“Those who follow me, view my content and amplify it because I am a minister may not always be with me. But those who connect with me because of my content or because of the person I am, will stay with me forever. I want to build Anil Vij as a brand and don’t want to use the tag of a minister to attract people,” he explained.
Asked if there was any deeper meaning in his act or if he was just disenchanted with his role as minister, Vij asserted that no deeper motive should be made out. “The only reason I removed the word minister from my profile is that I want to build my profile as Anil Vij. Nothing more and nothing less.”
However, six days earlier, on 12 September, he had put out a post on X alleging that “parallel BJP” operators in Ambala Cantonment were getting “blessings from above” and hurting the party.
“In Ambala Cantonment, some people are running a parallel BJP with the blessings of those above. Write in the COMMENT BOX what we should do. The party is suffering a lot of damage,” he wrote, in a rare public airing of internal grievances.
Asked about his post, Vij said it was self-explanatory and several people had posted comments in response.
However, a source close to Vij said his post was linked to an 11 September meeting between former BJP treasurer Ashish Tayal and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
Tayal, according to the source, had supported Vij’s immediate rival, Chitra Sarwara, an independent candidate, in the assembly polls. Sarwara lost to Vij by 7,277 votes.
As head of an industrial delegation of Ambala Cantt Industrial Area, Tayal had met Saini in Chandigarh to present a memorandum on flood and drainage issues.
After Vij’s 12 September post, Tayal had told the local media that he represented industrialists’ concerns and was unaware who the minister was targeting with his post.
Speaking about Vij’s latest move, political analyst Jyoti Mishra, assistant professor of political science at Amity University, Mohali, said he was an unpredictable politician and often did things that raised speculation.
“Vij is the senior-most BJP leader in Haryana and has been elected to the Vidhan Sabha the maximum number of times. However, he has often made it known by his posts, statements and conduct that he feels he has not been given his due by the party,” she told ThePrint.
The ‘outspoken’ minister
In his political career over the years, Vij has been no stranger to controversy and is known to be outspoken.
He is seen as having been pushed aside since the BJP’s leadership rearrangement in Haryana in March 2024 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. At the time, Nayab Saini was appointed as CM, replacing Manohar Lal Khattar.
Following his exhibition of displeasure by walking out of the BJP legislature party meeting where Saini was elected as leader in the presence of central observers, Vij was not inducted in the cabinet in March 2024.
When he was finally inducted into the Haryana cabinet after assembly polls last October, Vij was given the apparently less important portfolios of power and transport instead of home and health that he had in the Khattar cabinet.
In September 2024, Vij had stated his intention to stake claim to the CM’s chair in case the BJP came to power after the Haryana assembly polls.
Then, in February this year, he was served a show-cause notice for taking a swipe at Saini. “Ever since Nayab Saini has become CM, he has been constantly flying in his Udan Khatola (helicopter). This isn’t just my view but the view of the majority of MLAs,” Vij had said.
He also told the media in February that some people tried to defeat him in the assembly election, and he had submitted a written complaint against them, be it government officials, employees or small-time party leaders. He added that no action had been taken against those people, nor had anyone from the party tried to talk to him about it.
Before all this, Vij had a series of face-offs with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) when Khattar was CM from 2014 to March 2024, particularly during his second term.
“When Manohar Lal Khattar resigned in March last year, Vij was seen with him since the morning of 12 March and even accompanied him to the Raj Bhawan when the former met the Governor to submit his resignation. However, within minutes of the beginning of the BJP legislature party meeting to elect the new leader, Vij walked out. So, whenever Vij makes any move, it is watched with interest,” Mishra told ThePrint.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)