Himachal Pradesh Minister Vikramaditya Singh has clarified that he has no intention of switching over to the BJP and has gone to meet Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday to say this in person. Singh was rebuked by the party head office recently for making some unsavory comments about eateries that invite them to display the name of owners of eateries in the hill state. Of course, after the discussion with Kharge, Singh wanted to respond to the many assessments that the Congress high command made.

Vikramaditya Singh briefed Venugopal, who is the Congress General Secretary in charge of the organization, on the situation and told him that they are loyal to the party. ”We are those who have dedicated and loyal to this party and are capable of not doing anything which the party does not want,” Singh said. He clarified that there was a misunderstanding that Himachal has implemented a policy like the BJP governed Uttar Pradesh. This misconception was noted by the high command of the forces and they also voiced their worries on the same.” We convinced them by giving them the details as we stated, he further said.

Singh’s comments had received much flak from other Congress members who criticised the proposal as being ‘communal’. The unleashed criticism caused Singh to state that he was misquoted by the media and that was the reason for his comments. He said that his idea arose from the locals’ increasing worry over the rising number of migrants in the state.

As such, the Congress government denied the proposal made by Singh and clarified that no decision had been taken to make Indian street vendors wear nameplates or any other identification numbers at their stalls. Thus, the case illustrates how political discussion is still very much charged in that area and how often leadership poses the challenge of balancing community expectations and party policy.

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