'Don't know, ask CM': Miffed Haryana home minister on Nuh issue

Two days after Anil Vij denied having information about any intelligence input on a possible build-up of tension in Nuh, the Haryana Home Minister on Sunday said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar can update on the issue stressing that he has 'all the information'.

The remarks by Vij, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, has apparently brought his displeasure over not being kept in the loop on the issue.

Vij has the responsibility of law and order, but does not have the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) under him which comes under the chief minister.

The home minister has in the past expressed unhappiness over not being briefed or given feedback on various issues by the CID.

On Friday, Vij had said he did not have information about any intelligence input on a possible build-up of tension in the wake of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) procession that was attacked in Nuh district by mobs on July 31.

"Dekhiye, Nuh mamle mein jo bhi batayenge mukhya mantri ji batayenge, unhi ke paas sari soochnaye hai. Jo kuchh maine kehna tha mein keh chuka (on Nuh issue, whatever has to be said, only the chief minister will tell you...he has all the information. Whatever I had to say (on Nuh), I have said it)," Vij told reporters in Ambala when asked about the update on Nuh violence.

Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, have died in the clashes that erupted in Nuh over an attempt to stop a VHP procession and spread to Gurugram over the past few days.

On being asked what is the situation in Nuh and when will internet be restored, Vij replied, "Nuh ke baare mein ab jo batayenge na, mukhya mantri ji batayenge... mujhe nahin kuchh bhi pata (I don't have any update...now the chief minister will be able to tell)."

Opposition parties have slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janata Party government for allegedly failing to handle the law and order situation, with Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda demanding a judicial inquiry into the Nuh violence under the supervision of the high court.

Nearly three years ago, after the tug-of-war with Khattar over the control of CID, Vij was stripped of the charge of the department and it was later allocated to the chief minister.

Vij had then maintained that the chief minister was supreme and he could take away or divide any department.

Eight years ago, Vij had caught a 'CID officer' allegedly spying outside his office in Haryana Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh, although the then state Director General of Police clarified that such personnel were deployed as per standard procedure to keep an eye on people visiting ministers.

Over one-and-a-half years ago when Khattar expanded his cabinet, Vij was divested of the Urban Local Bodies department, which was given to BJP's Hisar MLA Kamal Gupta.

At that time when he was asked about reports that he had offered to resign from the council of ministers, Vij had 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," Vij had then told PTI.

Vij, a six-time MLA, currently holds Home, Health, Ayush, and Medical Education & Research departments.

In February 2015, less than three months after the BJP came to power in Haryana for the first time on its own, Vij, who then held Health, Sports and Youth Affairs, had taken a veiled dig at the chief minister on Twitter, saying, 'Thank you chief minister for taking a keen interest in my departments. I'm relaxed.'

Vij was then apparently upset with Khattar who had launched a number of programmes and schemes pertaining to the departments handled by him.

Vij was among the frontrunners for the chief minister's post after BJP's win in the 2014 Haryana Assembly polls. Khattar, then a first-time MLA, had emerged as the party's choice for the top post.