Video of Andhra Pradesh Minister Shared With False Claims Linked to Chhattisgarh

Vidadala Rajini, YSRCP minister from Andhra Pradesh has been misidentified in the video.

Fact-check: A video of a YSRCP minister from Andhra Pradesh is being shared to falsely claim that it shows a SDM of Chhattisgarh.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video showing a woman visiting a place and several Muslim men also offering namaz is going viral to claim that it shows Chhattisgarh's Sub-divisional magistrate Nikita Singh.

It adds that Singh donated a piece of land for this mosque which she recently visited.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X (formerly Twitter/Screenshot) 

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

What's the truth?: This video shows Vidadala Rajini, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Government Of Andhra Pradesh and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) leader.

• It shows her campaigning on 6 April, ahead of the Assembly elections. She has been nominated as the candidate from the Guntur West constituency. 

• No official records or reports about supposed Chhattisgarh's Sub-divisional magistrate Nikita Singh were found online.

How did we out the truth?: We performed a relevant keyword search on Google using 'Chhattisgarh's SDM Nikita Singh' but it did not show up any credible results, no official records or reports.

• Next, we performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video on Google and this led us to an Instagram video shared by Vidadala Rajini, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Government Of Andhra Pradesh and YSRCP leader.

• The caption read, "We are and will be in support of Muslims and Minorities." and the hashtag also included iftar and YSRCP Guntur West.

• We found more pictures of Rajini in the same attire as the Muslim community, where the caption states that she was having iftar at Pattabhipuram and Gujjanagundla localities of the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.

• This was also covered by Telugu news channel 4th TV News and the video carried several visuals from the event along with the same viral video.

• It mentions that Rajini was campaigning for the upcoming assembly elections scheduled to be held in Andhra Pradesh on 13 May.

• There were no reports stating Rajini donated that piece of land to the Muslim community for a mosque.

We have also contacted Rajini for more clarification on this matter, and we will update the story once we receive a response.

Conclusion: A video of a YSRCP minister from Andhra Pradesh is being shared to falsely claim that it shows a SDM of Chhattisgarh.

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