Anil Vij stakes claim to CM’s post in poll-bound Haryana; Pradhan says Saini is the CM face

Haryana BJP leaders Rao Inderjit Singh and Anil Vij stake claim to Chief Minister post, sparking party controversy.

After Union Minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh spoke openly of his chief ministerial ambitions on more than one occasion, former Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij too has thrown his hat into the ring, staking his claim to the coveted post.

At a press conference on Sunday, Mr. Vij said he was the most senior BJP MLA in Haryana, having contested and won six Assembly elections, and in fray for the seventh time, but had not made any demand of his party in all these years. “This time, based on my seniority, I will stake claim to the post of Chief Minister. It is for the high command to decide whether to make me the Chief Minister or not. But if I am made the Chief Minister, I will change the destiny and the face of Haryana,” Mr. Vij, contesting from the Ambala Cantonment Assembly constituency, said.

He said that people from his constituency and across Haryana had been meeting him, and it was at their behest that he was staking claim to the CM’s post.

However, his senior party colleague disagreed. “Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is the BJP’s CM face and the party will score a hat-trick of wins in the State under his leadership,” Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Sunday, describing Mr. Saini as a popular leader in the State.

“Being a party worker, he [Mr. Vij] may have said so, but Nayab Singh Saini is the BJP’s CM face,” Mr. Pradhan, who is the party’s in-charge for the Haryana election, told reporters in Karnal, when asked about Mr. Vij’s comment.

“The Ladwa Assembly has become a major political centre of Haryana elections. Ladle (dear one) Nayab Singh Saini of this place has left a special mark in the country in a very short time,” Mr. Pradhan said in a post on social media platform X. Mr. Saini has taken “far-sighted” decisions for the welfare of every section, thereby setting an example for the country, Mr. Pradhan said.

Previously, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had, at a meeting of the party’s State executive in Panchkula in June, had announced that the BJP would contest the upcoming Assembly election in Haryana under the leadership of Mr. Saini.