The feud among BJP leaders and Ambala local units made headlines and left the party red-faced and in a tight spot at various occasions during 2025.
From BJP stalwart and outspoken leader Anil Vij openly slamming a section of his own party leaders, accusing them of working against him and running a parallel BJP in Ambala Cantonment with the blessings of those at the top, to war of words between the supporters of Cabinet Minister Anil Vij and former Minister of State Aseem Goel, the differences between the leaders and their supporters came to fore at various events.
After the Assembly election, Vij had accused a section of party workers and leaders, and government officials of conspiring against him in the election. Anil Vij was so miffed with the functioning of the government that early in the year, he had warned that he would start a fast unto death like farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, to get public work done, and also discontinued the weekly Janta Darbar in Ambala Cantonment.
Feeling snubbed in his own party as his recommendations related to action against officials and projects were not being accepted, affecting projects, Vij had left the BJP-led government red-faced yet again by launching an attack on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, saying he had been travelling in his “udan khatola” (helicopter) ever since he assumed office.
Following back-to-back statements, in an unprecedented move, the BJP had issued a show-cause notice to Vij for allegedly breaching party discipline through his public statements against the CM and the state party chief Mohan Lal Badoli. Later, the Haryana Minister had sent an eight-page reply to the high command.
The growing differences between the state BJP leadership and Cabinet Minister Anil Vij came to the fore once again during the Municipal Council Ambala Sadar election too when the names of a number of candidates, recommended by the minister failed to find a place on the list of candidates released by the party. After the list of candidates was released, the BJP local unit and supporters of Vij had shown resentment because 15 candidates out of the 32 were those whose names were not on the panel recommended by the minister and the election committee.
However, after resentment was expressed by the Ambala Cantonment unit, the party had changed candidates in 11 wards.
However, the minister continued to express his displeasure and while addressing the party workers he had said, “In Ambala Cantonment, some people are conspiring to break the organisation, but dedicated party workers should not react emotionally.”
Even Vij’s supporters had expressed displeasure with Aseem Goel visiting the house of former district treasurer Ashish Tayal. Vij had accused Tayal of working against him in the last Assembly elections.
Vij’s supporters took to social media, saying that the meeting had hurt the sentiments of the party’s loyal workers. Soon after, Goel’s supporters took to social media to respond to the criticism and claimed that sentiments were also hurt when they saw Goel’s opponents meeting the Cabinet minister. The war on social media between the supporters of the two BJP senior leaders of Ambala remained a talk of the town. However, both Vij and Goel stayed out of this controversy, and made no statements.
Tayal also posted a picture with the CM on his social media account, which was believed to have added to Vij’s resentment. Though, his troubled relations with Nayab Saini often made headlines, Vij, notably, has termed Nayab Saini his “good friend” on many occasions. He was also seen praising Saini at various public events and said “Not a single day goes by without new announcements for the people and the state’s development.
Similarly, all is not well within the city unit of the BJP as well.
The differences between the former Ambala City MLA Aseem Goel and Mayor of Ambala Municipal Corporation Shailja Sachdeva, who won the mayoral by-elections after defeating Congress candidate in March this year, have come to light on various occasions. At a public event, Goel took a swipe at the BJP Mayor saying that whoever became the Mayor began behaving like the opposition party. He also accused some leaders of taking credit of the work in the City constituency which were approved during Aseem Goel’s tenure.
The differences between the Mayor and a section of the BJP leaders, including the Deputy Mayor and several elected members of the House, have also been growing rapidly.
The Deputy Mayor of the corporation, Rajesh Mehta, along with several other members had accused the Mayor of not supporting them on several public issues. Mehta gave the credit of getting public works done to Aseem Goel. Sachdeva also criticised the BJP leaders for targeting her and had sent a complaint to the state president to mark her unhappiness. The differences affected the House as well.
As the year is about to end with growing differences and the election of the Ambala Municipal Corporation are due next year, the party is set to face some hard times during the
.