CM Manohar Lal Khattar my best friend: Anil Vij

After the tug-of-war with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for days over the control of the CID in Haryana, Home Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday said there were no differences between them and the CM was his "best friend".

Vij, who had earlier expressed unhappiness over not being briefed or given feedback on various issues by the CID, appeared satisfied and said, "Today was the first time that an SP-rank officer briefed me. Now he will be briefing me daily."

His comments came after the Bharatiya Janata Party said the differences between Khattar and Vij over the CID wing's control have been resolved.

"The issue has been resolved. The chief minister is the head of the government and he can keep whatever (departments) he wants to have," BJP general secretary Anil Jain told PTI.

The Haryana home minister in an informal chat with the media here on Wednesday evening said, "The Chief Minister is my best friend. I never had any differences with him. I had some issues with the (CID) department but that too has been resolved."

However, Vij said there was no going back on the demand for disciplinary action against the state chief of the agency.

The minister had demanded that state CID chief Anil Rao, who is an ADGP-rank officer, be replaced with Shrikant Jadhav, another senior IPS officer, after charging the former with "disobedience and negligent behaviour in official duty".

Vij also refuted media reports that he had aired grievances pertaining to the CID issue with BJP president J P Nadda when he went to congratulate him in Delhi on the latter's appointment as the party chief.

"There was no talk on this issue. I had gone to congratulate him," said Vij.

To another question, he said he had written to telecom companies that there should be no unauthorised tapping of phones without written orders.

"We used to hear that during previous governments phones were being tapped. Therefore, I have written to telecom companies that no unauthorised recording/tapping be done till written orders are there," he said.

Earlier, rising tensions between the minister and the state CID chief had triggered a tug-of-war between Vij and the chief minister over the control of the department.

Khattar had recently said the CID remained under the chief minister's control during the terms of Bansi Lal and Devi Lal, an assertion that appeared to counter the home minister's claim over the department.

Khattar, however, had sought to downplay the row.

Vij had taken exception to two state government websites that showed that the CID was held by Khattar.

"Governments are not run by websites. They are run by the rule of law," Vij had said.