Fact-Check: Old Image of Vasundhara Raje With PM Modi Falsely Shared as Recent

This image dates back to 2018 and is unrelated to the current fight for the Rajasthan CM position.

Fact-check: An old image of Vasundhara Raje with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being falsely linked to the recent Rajasthan elections.

(Photo: The Quint)

An image showing former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going viral on social media.

The claim states that the duo met recently adding that Raje allegedly threatened to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and join Congress party if she was not made the Chief Minister of Rajasthan again.

An archive can be seen here.

An archive can be seen here.

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

What's the truth?: This image dates back to 2018.

• It does not show Raje meeting PM Modi recently.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on the viral image which led us to an old Facebook post shared by the official account of Prime Minister of India's Office.

• It carried the same image of Raje and PM Modi.

• This was shared on 6 January 2018 and the caption addressed Raje as the then Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

• The same was also shared on PMO's X (formerly Twitter) account.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: FB/Screenshot)

• A similar picture was shared by Raje on her official X account on 6 January 2018 where she was presenting PM Modi with a painting.

• According to a report shared by DNA on 7 January 2018, Raje met PM Modi to officially invite him to the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Barmer refinery on 16 January 2018.

More about Rajasthan's next CM: The BJP won 115 seats in the recent assembly elections held in Rajasthan.

• This result paved the way for BJP governance once again after Congress' Ashok Gehlot served as the CM of the state from 2018 to 2023.

• Raje was the last chief minister when the BJP last formed a government in the state, and this has led to speculations about her winning the position again.

• Other names rumoured to be considered for this role are Balak Nath, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Diya Kumari.

• However, no official list has been released yet.

• We also fact-checked a fake list circulating as a real letter which claimed the Balak Nath was the new CM. You can read out story here.

Conclusion: An old image of Vasundhara Raje with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being falsely linked to the recent Rajasthan elections.

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