Old Clip of DK Shivakumar & Chandrababu Naidu Falsely Linked to 2024 LS Polls

The video of Chandrababu Naidu and DK Shivakumar meeting on the tarmac dates back to December 2023.

A video of Congress leader and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka DK Shivakumar meeting Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu at the airport is being widely shared on social media.

The claim: The video is being shared after the declaration of the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, amid speculations of TDP switching from the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) to the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

• As on 5 June, the TDP is a part of the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA, which secured 292 seats in the 2024 general elections.

(Archives of more claims on social media can be seen here, here, and here.)

But...?: The video has no connection to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

• It dates back to October 2023, when Shivakumar met Naidu after the latter landed at Bengaluru airport, ahead of the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections.

• Naidu was on his way to his home constituency in AP's Kuppam and Shivakumar was on his way to Delhi when the two met.

How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the video using Google Lens, which led us to a video on a YouTube channel, which was published on 29 December, 2024.

• The title of the video mentioned that the leaders met at Bengaluru airport in Karnataka.

We ran a search using the leaders' names and 'Bengaluru Airport' as keywords on Google, which led us to news reports published in December 2023.

Naidu had landed at Bengaluru's HAL airport when he met Shivakumar, who was on his way to the Congress Foundation Day celebrations in Delhi, as per The New Indian Express.

• TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh commented on the meeting, stating that it was "coincidental," reported NDTV, clarifying that it did not imply that their party would join the INDIA bloc.

• News18 Telugu's YouTube channel also shared the clip in December 2023.

Conclusion: An old video of DK Shivakumar and Chandrababu Naidu meeting at Bengaluru airport is being falsely linked to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

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