Haryana minister Anil Vij says he offered to resign from cabinet when told he might lose home dept

Chandigarh, December 30

Haryana minister Anil Vij on Thursday said he had offered to resign from the Cabinet after the Urban Local Bodies department was reassigned to a newly inducted minister and he was told that he might be divested of the home portfolio as well.

Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, on the advice of the chief minister, allocated and reallocated portfolios among the members of the Manohar Lal Khattar Council of Ministers on Wednesday consequent to the induction of two new ministers.

The urban local bodies, a key department, was allocated to newly inducted minister Kamal Gupta. Chief Minister Khattar also gave one department under him – Housing for All – to Gupta, a two-time BJP MLA from Hisar.

Asked about reports that he had offered to resign from the Council of Ministers, Vij on Thursday said when the chief minister expressed his intent to divest him of the home portfolio and keep it for himself, “I then said, if he so wishes, he may take all portfolios.”

“I said that I am willing to give up all my portfolios, why just one or two,” he told PTI.

After the reallocation, Vij, a senior BJP leader and six-time MLA, now holds Home, Health, Ayush, Technical Education, and Science and Technology portfolios.

Newly inducted ministers – Kamal Gupta of the BJP and Devender Singh Babli of the JJP – were allocated portfolios on Wednesday.

Vij was conspicuous by his absence at the oath-taking ceremony of the newly inducted ministers on Tuesday. Shortly before the ceremony, he had a meeting with the chief minister. PTI