The ‘tug-of-war’ between Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his Home Minister Anil Vij has finally ended with the former taking over as Criminal Investigation Department (CID) portfolio.
The state Governor put the Chief Minister in charge of the crucial CID on Wednesday, a day after Khattar and Vij met BJP president JP Nadda in Delhi, sending out a message that peace has been brokered between them.
As per a notification issued by the Chief Secretary on Wednesday, the portfolios of the CID and the departments of Personnel and Training and of Raj Bhawan Affairs have been allocated to the Chief Minister in addition to his existing portfolios.
Thus, Vij will cease to hold the portfolio of the CID, it added.
The ‘war of supremacy’ between the Chief Minister and his colleague intensified earlier this week when the latter asked Khattar to chargesheet and remove Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Anil Rao.
It is learnt on Tuesday that Vij, who is unhappy with Rao, has asked the Home Secretary to remove him for “inefficiency, insubordination and dereliction of duty”.
In a letter written to Khattar, Vij said the CID chief did not apprise him in routine about the current law and order situation in the state.
Vij demanded that Rao should be replaced by Shrikant Jadhav, another senior Indian Police Service officer.
Jadhav was suspended by the previous BJP government for negligence during the 2016 Jat quota violence. He was later reinstated on technical grounds.
Before the official notification, Khattar had clarified numerous times that the CID has been under the Chief Minister and not under the Home Minister as per the practice followed for decades.
Even the official website shows Khattar has 17 portfolios, including the CID, with him.
But Vij believes the CID is part of the Home Department and he has shown his displeasure over its functioning on several occasions.
He has recently constituted a three-member committee headed by Home Secretary Vijai Vardhan to improve the functioning of the CID.
Meanwhile, after being stripped of the portfolio, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said he has always maintained that the chief minister is supreme and can take away or divide any department.
“I have always maintained that the Chief Minister is supreme and he can take away or divide any department,” Vij told news agency PTI.
Earlier, the top minister had said that there were no differences between them and the Chief Minister was his “best friend”.