Ambala (Haryana), February 13 (HBTV): Haryana Minister Anil Vij responded to the show cause notice issued by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over his recent comments, stating that he would soon send a reply to the party's high command.

'I have returned from Bengaluru. I will go home first, take a cold shower, have a meal, sit down, and write my response... and send it to the high command,' Vij told reporters.

The BJP had issued the show cause notice on February 12, criticizing the minister for his comments that allegedly targeted the party’s Haryana president and the chief minister, stating that they were 'against the party’s policy and internal discipline.' 

Vij was given three days to respond to the notice.

'Your actions are not only against the ideology of the party but have also come at a time when the party is campaigning for elections in a neighboring state,' the notice said. 'Making such statements during election time, while holding a respected ministerial position, knowing that they would harm the party’s image, is completely unacceptable,' the notice added.

Earlier, on January 18, Vij had called for Haryana BJP President Mohan Lal Badoli to step down, pending the resolution of an alleged gangrape accusation against him, in order to "maintain the purity of the party."

'The witness has said, and Mohan Lal Badoli himself has claimed he is innocent. I have full faith that during the Himachal Pradesh Police investigation, he will be found not guilty. But until he is proven not guilty, to preserve the party's purity, he should step down,' Vij had told ANI.

Mohan Lal Badoli and Jai Bhagwan had been accused of sexual assault in Himachal Pradesh, but on February 7, Kasauli police submitted a cancellation report to the court, clearing the individuals of the charges after investigation.

On February 3, Vij also made headlines for a post on X (formerly Twitter), where he accused a person named Ashish Tayal of working with an opposing candidate to undermine the BJP’s re-election efforts.

Vij had posted: "Ashish Tayal, who claims to be a friend of Nayab Saini (Haryana CM), has many photos with him on Facebook. The same workers seen with Tayal during the assembly elections were also with the BJP's opposing candidate, Chitra Sarwara. What is the relationship here? Tayal is still the best friend of Nayab Saini, so who made him oppose the BJP candidate?"

Vij won the Ambala Cantt constituency in the October 2024 Haryana Assembly elections, defeating Independent candidate Chitra Sarwara by a margin of over 7,000 votes.

(ANI)