Gurugram: Former Haryana minister and BJP veteran Anil Vij has defeated his nearest rival Chitra Sarwara, an independent candidate, by 7,277 votes in Ambala Cantonment assembly constituency.
Vij polled 59,858 votes, Sarwara 52,581 votes, and Congress’s Parvinder Pal Pari 14,469 votes.
The senior-most BJP legislator, Vij has won six times from Ambala Cantt before this election. The veteran leader had staked his claim to the post of chief minister in the run-up to 2024 state elections.
Vij, 71, was the senior-most minister in Manohar Lal Khattar’s second term government after the CM and deputy CM Dushyant Chautala with important portfolios like home and health departments.
He, however, often had brushes with Khattar during the latter’s first as well as the second term as the chief minister.
In Khattar’s first term, Vij caught a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) man in his office and summoned a senior police officer to his office alleging that someone was spying on him.
During Khattar’s second term, Vij had a brush with one of the CM’s aides accusing him of interfering with the functioning of his department.
On 12 March, when he resigned and the BJP MLAs were electing Nayab Saini as their new leader under the watch of the central observers, Vij walked out of the meeting in protest. Later, Saini didn’t include Vij in his cabinet of ministers.
During his stint as a minister, Vij used to conduct surprise checks to government offices and suspend the absentees. Due to his proactive style of functioning, Vij had earned the sobriquet of ‘Gabbar’ among government employees as well as his fans.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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