Six-time MLA denies reports of Cabinet expansion today Nitin Jain Ambala, November 12 Even as uncertainty prevails over the first expansion of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led Haryana Cabinet, Ambala Cantonment BJP MLA and former Minister Anil Vij is confident of outperforming wherever the party deputes him. “I’m the senior-most legislator and will continue to outperform wherever the party deputes me,” said the six-time MLA here on Tuesday. A front runner for the Cabinet berth, Vij was among the two Ministers of the Khattar 1.0 who had won the recently held Assembly elections as eight of his former Cabinet colleagues had bitten the dust. “I had never ever asked for any post in my political career, spanning over three decades, but I had always outperformed wherever the party had deputed me in the past,” claimed the veteran saffron leader, while calling his previous stint as the Health and Sports Minister as “most successful”. On when the Cabinet expansion is taking place and why there was a delay in it, Vij said it was up to the party High Command and the Chief Minister to decide on the matter. “I’m a loyal soldier of the party and will abide by the party decision as I had been doing in the past,” the former banker-turned-politician asserted. Denying the media reports that Cabinet expansion will be held on Wednesday, the Punjabi face of the BJP said there was no such intimation or decision taken as yet. Khattar took oath as the Chief Minister for the second time on October 27 and Dushyant Chautala, great grandson of former deputy prime minister late Devi Lal, was sworn in as his deputy as the BJP formed the government with the help of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) in Haryana. Seven Independents are also supporting the government. Elections in Haryana were held on October 21 and the results declared on October 24. The BJP had sealed a deal with the Chautala-led JJP to form the government in Haryana after the saffron party fell short of six seats from the majority mark in the Assembly elections. In the 90-member Assembly, the BJP had won 40, JJP 10, Congress 31, NLD and the Haryana Lokhit Party one each, while seven Independents also won. Slams Sidhu for praising Pak PM Slamming Punjab Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu for praising Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at the Kartarpur Corridor inauguration ceremony, Vij has sought apology from the cricketer-turned-politician for allegedly seeking to present the Pakistani leadership on a higher pedestal than India’s. “Sidhu tried to politicise the religious function”. At the function in Kartarpur, he showed more importance to Imran Khan whereas he should have been speaking more about Guru Nanak Dev. He spared no effort to present Pakistani leadership on a higher pedestal than India’s. For this, he should apologise to the Sikh community and the nation,” Vij said. Also criticising Sidhu’s remarks praising Imran Khan and describing him as the king of hearts, the senior BJP leader said Sidhu had said, “Sikandar (Alexander) had won the world with fear and you (Imran Khan) won the hearts all over the world.” “There is some special chemistry between Sidhu and Imran or is it some game plan of Pakistan? I think it needs to be investigated,” said Vij. Sidhu, a former Punjab Minister, had travelled to Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan on Saturday on the invitation of Imran Khan during the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor connecting historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of the Sikh faith founder, with Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur.

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