Shimla, Aug. 21 -- The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Vinay Kumar on Friday strongly condemned the uproar in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly over Vande Mataram, accusing the BJP of deliberately creating a controversy to divert attention from issues it may have to face during the ongoing monsoon session.

The controversy erupted on the opening day of the Assembly session, with the BJP alleging that the National Song was being disrespected, while Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu accused BJP MLAs of disrespecting the National Anthem.

Kumar said the Assembly has a long-standing convention under which the National Anthem is sung at the beginning of proceedings and the National Song at the conclusion of the s...