Fact Check: Viral video of BRS party leader distributing money to voters is NOT RECENT
Telangana is gearing up for the upcoming Assembly elections and leaders of all political parties are actively participating in the campaigning. Top leaders of all major parties in the state are touring the constituencies and addressing public gatherings in various places.
Claim :
The video shows a recent incident of BRS party leaders paying voters to attend the party rallies and vote for the party.Fact :
The video is old and is not a recent incident. The incident occurred in January 2020 during municipal elections.
Telangana is gearing up for the upcoming Assembly elections and leaders of all political parties are actively participating in the campaigning. Top leaders of all major parties in the state are touring the constituencies and addressing public gatherings in various places. BRS party working president K T Rama Rao is holding road shows on a daily basis, PCC president Revanth Reddy is also addressing public meetings, and BJP state president G Kishan Reddy is also canvassing in several areas.
Meanwhile, a video showing BRS party members standing on either side of a road and paying the public standing in a line is going viral with different claims. An Instagram user shared the video with a claim ‘Rs300 distribution after BRS party meeting, BRS పార్టీ మీటింగ్ తర్వాత ₹300 రూపాయల పంపిణీ..!! #ByeByeKCR’
Another user shared the same video with the caption “Bangaru Telangana kosam dabbulu panchithe thappenti” When translated, it claims ‘what is wrong in distributing money for Golden Telangana’
The video is shared on Twitter with a caption “డబ్బులు చేతిలో పెడితే తప్ప తెలంగాణ ముఖ్యమంత్రి కేసీఆర్ సభకు జనం రారు మరి! #KCR #TSPolls #UANow”. When translated, it claims: ‘People will not come to Telangana Chief Minister KCR's meeting unless they are paid!’
The video is also shared on YouTube also.
Fact Check:
The claim is Misleading. The video is an old one and has been on the internet since January 2020.
When we performed a Google reverse image search on the key frames extracted from the video, we found a video shared on Facebook in October 2020.
Upon further search, we found YouTube videos published by Telugu TV news channels. The video was shared by CVR News Telugu with the title “TRS Leaders Distributing Money for Municipal Elections at Sathupalli | CVR News” on January 21, 2020. The anchor states that during the municipal elections in Sattupalli, the leaders distributed liquor, gifts, and money to lure voters during the elections. The leaders attacked the media members who were filming the incident.
NTV Telugu also published the video stating that TRS ward candidate Aneesh was caught on camera distributing money to the voters. The YouTube video published by NTV on January 20, 2020, with the title “డబ్బులు పంచుతూ పట్టుబడ్డ టీఆర్ఎస్: TRS Candidates Distribute Money in Peddapalli & Sathupalli | NTV”. Aneesh, who is a TRS candidate in the 7th Municipal ward distributed money to people standing in a queue line.
Hence, the video showing BRS party members distributing money is an old one and shows an incident from the year 2020 where the then-TRS member distributed money to voters during municipal elections in Sattupalli. The claim is Misleading.
