Automobile references have suddenly taken over the political discourse in Chhattisgarh, though not for any commercial advertising campaign. Instead, terms like Innova and bike are echoing through political circles due to a sharp verbal tussle between two prominent leaders of the state. On one side stands former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, while the other side is anchored by Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma. Both heavyweights have turned these vehicles into measuring sticks to take political jabs at each other.
The entire controversy originated from a social media post by Bhupesh Baghel, where he launched an attack on the ruling party during a press conference. He asserted that if elections were held in the state immediately, all Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs would fit inside a single Innova car. The underlying meaning of his remark was unmistakable, implying that the ruling party would face a severe defeat in an election and secure only a handful of victories, small enough to travel together in one vehicle.
Not one to let the remark go unanswered, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma fired back on the social media platform X. He wrote that the Congress party spends less energy on strengthening its organizational structure and more on day-dreaming. Sometimes they claim a massive tally in one state and sometimes in another, but the ultimate outcome is visible in places like Uttar Pradesh, where out of 403 seats, Congress is left with just 2 MLAs, so much so that forget an Innova, they might arrive on a motorcycle.
To put those numbers into perspective, the current legislative assembly of Uttar Pradesh indeed features two legislators from the party. One of them is Aradhana Mishra Mona, and the second is Virendra Chaudhary.
This political friction is not an isolated incident between the two adversaries. Previously as well, Vijay Sharma and Bhupesh Baghel have engaged in direct political arguments on a shared platform, which generated significant media attention at the time. This latest round of verbal sparring, traveling all the way from an Innova to a motorcycle, has once again stoked the political temperature across Chhattisgarh.
