An image, purportedly depicting Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) Chandrababu Naidu observing Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy discussing the YSRCP manifesto on a television screen, is being widely circulated on social media.
The Facebook post reads: “Chandrababu Watching #YSRCPManifesto💥”.
The above post can be seen here. (Archive)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the image, and found it to be altered.
Upon conducting a Google Reverse Image Search, the NM team discovered a Facebook post on Chandrababu Naidu’s account, dating back to 2017, which included a series of photographs. Among these was a picture resembling the viral picture, highlighting notable similarities between the two.
The caption of the Facebook post reads: “Inaugurated Real Time Governance State Centre today, in the first block of the Secretariat. The well-equipped and technologically advanced centre will serve as a synchronised platform to leverage e-governance, technology and electronics communication for hosting surveillance wing, grievance redressal, major events, the alert system for natural calamities, etc., for the citizens. It will also function, across all the 13 districts, as an ecosystem to manage the data of all the households in the state to impact their lives with effective governance, ensuring ‘People First’ mantra. The centre will also facilitate public engagement and interaction tools for connecting people with the government.”
We also found a report by The New Indian Express, which covered this event with a news report featuring a comparable image of Naidu’s. The headline reads: “Asia’s biggest real-time control room begins operation in Andhra Pradesh.”
We also found that the image of CM Jagan Mohan Reddy was taken on April 27 during the launch of the YSRCP’s manifesto for the upcoming elections. It was featured in stories by Telugu news outlets like Sakshi and HMTV.
Hence, we can conclusively say that the image has been digitally manipulated to falsely suggest that Chandrababu Naidu was observing CM Jagan Mohan Reddy presenting the YSRCP’s manifesto.
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