A 400-car cavalcade from Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri to Bhopal - a distance of about 300 km -- marked the return of a BJP leader to the Congress, which he left during the 2020 rebellion led by Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Baijnath Singh, who holds political clout in Shivpuri, had followed Mr Scindia into the BJP during the 2020 Madhya Pradesh Congress rebellion that toppled the Kamal Nath government and brought the BJP back to power. Mr Scindia, who led the rebellion, is now Union Civil Aviation minister.
Mr Singh, it is learnt, had been lobbying hard for a BJP ticket in the run-up to the Assembly polls. But with no hope of getting one, he decided to rejoin the Congress, said sources.
The politician was welcomed back into the party fold by senior Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh. Along with Baijnath Singh, 15 district-level leaders of the BJP switched to the Congress.
To mark his party switch, Baijnath Singh took out a 400-car cavalcade from Shivpuri to the Congress office in Bhopal. A video of the scores of cars driving down with sirens on has now gone viral. People are seen shooting videos and waving to the cars.
Once the video went viral, many social media users drew parallels between the rows of SUVs in the cavalcade and scenes in the blokbuster Bollywood flick Singham.
Some users flagged the use of sirens. As per law, only vehicles providing emergency services are permitted to use sirens on road. These include ambulances, fire brigades and police in some circumstances. But politicians often use it in a brazen show of power, especially after the ban on red beacons.
The BJP has said the use of sirens reflects Congress's "feudal mindset". "This is the mentality of Congress leaders who use hooters, sirens and illegal beacons and disturb the public. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had removed VIP culture from the streets. But it is the Congress's feudal mindset that leads them to use hooters. I strongly criticise this and appeal to the authorities to take action," BJP spokesperson Dr Hitesh Bajpayee said.
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