Haryana's Health and Sports Minister Anil Vij
Oops, he's done it again. Haryana's Health and Sports Minister Anil Vij took on his boss, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, today with a sarcastic tweet.
"Thank You Chief Minister For Taking Keen Interest into My Departments. I am Relaxed (sic)," tweeted the 61-year-old BJP man who is reportedly upset that Mr Khattar has been dealing directly with matters related to his ministries - particularly health - without consulting him.
He also showed his displeasure on Sunday by absenting himself at the launch of a sports campaign by Mr Khattar. While the chief minister ran a symbolic marathon, his sports minister was nowhere to be seen.
Anil Vij was seen as a contender for the chief minister's post when the BJP won its first majority ever on its own in Haryana in November. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked Mr Khattar, a leader with deep RSS roots who is a first-time legislator.
In a recent survey, Mr Vij was voted Haryana's most popular minister - he polled as many votes as Mr Khattar's other ministers jointly did.
He is not known to mince his words and his tweets have regularly left the BJP government in Haryana red-faced.
When the Khattar government completed 100 days recently, Mr Vij tweeted in Hindi, "Some people are bent on stopping me from working my way but they will not succeed. I will continue to work my way."
It seemed like a direct potshot at Mr Khattar, though Mr Vij later tweeted a disclaimer saying he had named no one.
Last week, the chief minister landed up at Mr Vij's home in his constituency, Ambala, and had dinner with him.
That gesture did not keep Mr Vij from tweeting on Sunday, "I am not in politics to push the Congress' cart." The comment was seen as criticism that the Khattar government is following too many policies of the previous Congress government in Haryana.