Dinner diplomacy: CM attempts to placate Vij

After Haryana health minister Anil Vij’s recent tweets gave rise to speculations about some disagreement between him and the government, chief minister ML Khattar took recourse to dinner diplomacy with him on Wednesday.

Khattar reached Vij’s residence in Ambala Cantt around 10pm and had dinner with him.

He stayed with him for about an hour, though it could not be known what was discussed there.

However, Khattar’s initiative is being considered by political observers as his move to smoothen the rough edges, if any.

Notably, Vij had recently tweeted that some people were not happy with his way of functioning.

Later, in a tweet he also asserted that he would continue to have his way, irrespective of what others think about it.

The tweets got viral on the social media to the extent that Khattar had to respond by saying that everyone in his government had freedom and no one was stopping any one.

However, as if it was not enough, Vij had also tweeted on Tuesday on the BJP rout in the Delhi polls.

“If the party had concentrated on building leaders rather than importing them, then this would not have been the position of the party,” he had commented.

In Ambala cantt on Wednesday, Khattar and Vij told newspersons that there was no differences between them and they were old friends and would continue to be so. rajesh.moudgil@hindustantimes.com

(With inputs from Dev Sarup Mathur in Ambala)