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Chandigarh: Haryana’s senior cabinet minister,seven time MLA, Anil Vij has once again stirred curiosity in political circles by dropping the word “minister” from his bio on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Vij, who earlier described himself as “Anil Vij Minister Haryana, India”, has now edited it to simply read “Anil Vij Ambala Cantt Haryana, India”.
Known for his outspoken style and frequent use of social media to air his views, the seven-time MLA has often signaled his resentment with the state leadership, though he refrains from making direct remarks against the party high command.
Clarifying his decision, Vij said he did not want to attract followers on X by using his ministerial designation.“I don’t want to grow my viewership and followers as a minister. My followers were increasing much faster when I did not have the minister tag. Vij itself is a tag now. I don’t need any other,” he remarked.
This is not the first time the Ambala Cantt legislator has dropped political identifiers from his bio. Nearly a year ago, he had removed the ‘minister’ tag from his Facebook account as well.
Vij has also courted controversy within his own party in the past. He once accused some BJP leaders in Ambala Cantonment of “running a parallel BJP with the blessings of those above,” even seeking suggestions from supporters through the comment box on his X post.
In another instance last year, he edited his X bio to remove the tagline “Modi Ka Parivar.” Though he later restored it, he shifted the line downwards in his profile, prompting speculation before issuing a clarification that he remained a “staunch devotee of the BJP.”
The move to drop the minister tag, political observers say, may once again trigger debate over Vij’s growing distance from the Haryana BJP establishment in the run-up to the Assembly polls.
