2018 Video of KCR Calling Himself PM Modi’s ‘Best Friend’ Shared as Recent

A video of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi his "best friend," and saying that he respects him is being shared on social media.

What is the claim?: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Priti Gandhi shared the video on her verified Twitter account saying that KCR was "singing like a canary" after his daughter and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLA K Kavita was named in the Delhi liquor scam case.

(Archives of more posts sharing the same claim can be seen here, here, and here.)

But?: The video isn't a recent one. It dates back to 3 March 2018, when Rao responded to a question on accusations of having allegedly disrespected Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

How did we find out?: Using relevant keywords, we looked for more information on the Telangana CM's statement.

• We came across a report by The Times of India dated 4 March 2018 which carried KCR's "I am his best friend" remark.

• It added that Rao had denied allegations of being disrespectful towards the prime minister during his speeches at public meetings in Adilabad and Karimnagar in Telangana, and said that he had "nothing against Modi."

• A similar report on KCR's statements was published by The Indian Express on 3 March 2018.

Same video published in 2018: On YouTube, we found the same video published on a channel 'Xplorer India' on 4 March 2018.

We also came across another video of the same press conference on NTV Telugu's verified YouTube channel.

Tweets confirm old statement: Our search also led us to tweets shared from the verified accounts of journalists Rishika Sadam and Paul Oommen from 2018, which carried KCR's statements.

(Note: Swipe right to view both tweets.)

Conclusion: A four-year-old video of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao calling himself Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "best friend" is being shared as a recent statement by Rao in the backdrop of the Delhi liquor scam.

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