Have never aspired for any post, can’t visit Delhi often: Anil Vij

BJP leader and former Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij has said he has never aspired for any position as that requires “visiting Delhi often”, and he has hardly done that through his political career spanning over several decades.

He said this during a freewheeling interview with Geetanjali Gayatri and Pradeep Sharma of The Tribune for its digital show ‘#DecodeHaryana’ in Chandigarh on Tuesday. Vij, seen as an activist minister before he stepped down in March this year after Nayab Singh Saini’s name as successor of Manohar Lal Khattar was announced, added, “I never nurtured any aspiration to be the Chief Minister. You have to lobby (with the party high command) for the post of Chief Minister. I have never lobbied for any post. In fact, even the post of the MLA was thrust upon me,” Vij said, answering a specific question on the party ignoring him and elevating a much-junior Saini as the Chief Minister.

I am not aligned with any particular leader but with the BJP’s ideology... I enjoy cordial relations with Manohar Lal Khattar. However, in democracy, I have a right to express my opinion.

Stating that he was “happier while he worked at a bank in Ambala and managed to find time for the party activities as well, Vij said, “Quitting my job is my biggest regret.”

Breaking his silence over not joining the Saini government as a Cabinet Minister and dispelling the notion that he did so “in protest”, Vij, who earned the name of ‘Gabbar’ while he was in the ML Khattar Cabinet, claimed that he had already urged the then CM to relieve him of the ministership to enable him to devote more time to his Assembly segment.

Maintaining that he had a ‘weakness’ of not frequenting New Delhi to meet senior party leaders too often, Vij conceded that he had suffered politically for it. “I am not aligned with any particular leader but with the BJP’s ideology,” the former minister said.

Claiming that he has “cordial relations” with Khattar, Vij, however, in democracy he had a right to his opinion. He claimed that Khattar had been the best Chief Minister in the history of Haryana. “He put an end to nepotism in government jobs and provided a transparent administration and gave jobs on merit,” Vij said, adding that he was playing a bigger role at the Centre as a Union Minister.

Terming Saini as his “younger brother”, Vij claimed that it was he who was instrumental in installing him as the Ambala district president. ”I have business-like relations with him,” he asserted. However, he said that he was open to becoming a minister if the BJP assumed power in the state for a third time.

While he was full of praise for Union Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh, he shied away from commenting whether he can ever be Chief Minister, Vij was very critical of the Congress party for being divisive. “The Congress only knows divisive politics. It is in its blood,” he asserted.

Appreciating the present team of the central BJP leaders deputed in the state for the Assembly polls, Vij said there was no dearth of good leaders in the party. He also said he was the only leader who wanted the BJP to go it alone in the 2014 elections. “Ultimately, the party agreed and the BJP formed the government riding on the Modi wave. The BJP will form the government with s thumping majority in this election as well,” he said while stating that the era of regional parties had almost come to an end.

Distancing himself completely from the caste politics played out during the elections, Vij said the caste had no place in the BJP. “My party has taught me to be Hindustani and anybody who talks along caste lines is thrown out,” the former minister said.