Did Chandrababu Naidu meet Akhilesh Yadav ahead of NDA meeting on June 5, 2024? Fact Check

Posted by: Arun Nag June 6, 2024

An image of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu discussing has been shared soon after the election results on June 4, 2024 suggesting that the two leaders are likely to come out with a game plan that may change the formation of government at the Centre.

Naidu’s TDP fought the 2024 elections as an ally of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which together won majority in the Lok Sabha with 291 seats out of 543. The election outcome signaled continuation of NDA government though BJP, with 240 seats, fell far short of the minimum 272 seats required to form the government on its own. In this context, speculations were rife over the possibility of Naidu joining the INDIA bloc, instead of NDA. The caption in this tweet suggests the same.

Amid the meetings among the political parties of NDA and INDIA bloc on June 5, 2024, the image was shared here and here. And the caption reads: “Akhilesh Yadav met Chandra Babu Naidu. A big game will happen in a few hours…”

FACT-CHECK

Digiteye India received a request on its WhatsApp tipline to fact-check the same. We quickly searched for the original image on Google Reverse Image search and found that it was an old photograph and has nothing to do with the ongoing meetings in Delhi about the formation of the next government.

The original photo was taken in 2019 when Akhilesh Yadav felicitated Naidu with a shawl along with other opposition leaders — Rahul Gandhi of Congress, D. Raja and G Sudhakar Reddy of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and late Sharad Yadav of Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) — ahead of the discussions to form a joint front against the BJP during the 2019 Lok Sabha election verdict.

The photo in the visual showing other opposition leaders then was shared by Akhilesh Yadav on his official X with the caption, “It is a pleasure to welcome Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri N Chandrababu Naidu Ji to Lucknow.”

Ahead of the 2019 elections, Naidu had quit the NDA and was seen as part of the anti-BJP alliance. On June 5, 2024, Naidu squarely denied such rumours and said that the TDP remains part of the NDA.

Hence, an old photograph has been used to claim that Naidu is seen discussing with the other opposition leaders to form an anti-BJP government in 2024. The claim is false.

Claim: Chandrababu Naidu of TDP and Akhilesh Yadav of Samajwadi Party discussing a new game plan to form anti-BJP government on June 5, 2024.

Conclusion: The claim is false. A 2019 photo was used to claim that Naidu, now part of NDA, is discussing government formation with INDIA bloc leader Akhilesh Yadav.

Rating: Misrepresentation —

About Arun Nag

Arun is with Digiteye India since the beginning as the main source for re-writing copies and re-checking the facts and images. He writes on general and tech issues. He can be reached at arunnag@digiteye.in

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