HP Congress chief backs her minister son over vendors' name order

Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh Saturday said the verification of outsiders coming to the state for business or livelihood was necessary to ensure people's safety, but she was against communalising the issue, which she alleged BJP was doing.

Pratibha, the mother of state urban development minister Vikramaditya Singh , who was recently warned by the party high command for his remark regarding mandatory display of identity by street vendors , defended her son, saying his remarks had been blown out of proportion. She was in Delhi on Saturday, where she met the party's general secretary in-charge (organisation) K C Venugopal.

While supporting the need to identify outsiders to ascertain the purpose of their visit for ensuring security of the state, she said: "We differ with the ideology, working style of BJP, and do not approve of it."