A photograph and a video of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary meeting Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati in the presence of other party members is being shared, claiming that the former recently met Mayawati at her residence.
The claim speculates that the RLD will act as an 'ally to the BSP, who is expected to win the the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections'.
But the visuals are from 2019 and does not show a recent meeting between the two, as claimed. In the photo and video, Chaudhary is seen meeting Mayawati before the 2019 General Elections, when the two parties, along with Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) had formed an alliance, popularly known as the 'mahagathbandhan.'
CLAIM
The visuals are being shared claiming to show a recent meeting between Mayawati and Jayant Chaudhary, as Uttar Pradesh prepares to begin its third phase of polling for the state's Assembly elections.
(Note: Swipe right to see the other claim.)
An archive of this post can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Using InVID, a Google Chrome video verification extension, we divided the video into keyframes and ran a reverse image search on them.
Since we were able to identify RLD's Jayant Chaudhary and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in the photograph, we supplemented the search with their names as keywords.
The results led us to a report by Hindi news portal Amar Ujala dated 16 March, 2019 and noted that it showed the first meeting between the leaders after a major alliance (mahagathbandhan) was announced between SP, RLD and BSP before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
The article was published in 2019.
(Source: Amar Ujala/Altered by The Quint)
It mentioned that topics pertinent to the elections, such as campaigning strategies for the western Uttar Pradesh region where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had previously gathered massive support, were discussed in the meeting.
Using relevant keywords, we looked for visuals of the meeting on YouTube and found an ABP Live video of the same.
Speaking to the reporters present, Chaudhary said they had "important discussions" regarding the state and the country, adding that he met Mayawati and sought her "blessings."
THE PHOTOGRAPH IS FROM THE SAME EVENT
The photographs shared with the same claim were from the same meeting, as seen in this Live Hindustan report on the meeting which carried the same photograph.
The photo was taken at the same meeting.
(Source: LiveHindustan/Screenshot)
A set of two photos from the meeting were shared on Chaudhary's verified Facebook page on the same day, one of which was seen in the claim.
While an alliance between SP-BSP-RLD was forged in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal have announced their alliance for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections.
Clearly, three-year-old visuals of a meeting between RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary and BSP supremo Mayawati were falsely shared as those showing a recent meeting between the two, as the state is the midst of polling for its Assembly elections.
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