Old and unrelated video shared as people burning Chandrababu Naidu’s photo for supporting Narendra Modi

The viral video shows TDP followers protesting over the selection of the Guntakal candidate in March 2024.

Chandrababu Naidu-led TD-Jana Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance won majority in the state’s assembly polls and he extended his party’s support to the National Democratic Alliance to form the government. Amidst this, video showing Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supporters setting fire to a photo of Chandrababu Naidu is going viral on social media with the claim that it shows the people of Andhra Pradesh protesting against Naidu for forming a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the 2024 general elections.
The caption of the post states, “Angry people of Andhra Pradesh are burning photos of Chandrababu Naidu for supporting Modi”.

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Fact Check

We conducted a reverse image search on Google and the results led us to a similar video uploaded on Telugu news outlet Samayam Telugu’s YouTube channel on 29 March 2024. It was captioned: “Guntakal TDP leaders burned Chandrababu photo”. The description states that it shows Guntakal TDP workers burning Naidu’s photo and protesting against Gummanur Jayaram’s nomination.

Keeping this in mind, we looked further and found a The New Indian Express report from March 2024 featured a screengrab from the viral video. The report states that members of the TDP and supporters of Jithendra Goud barged into local TDP offices and vandalized furniture in protest. They set fire to an image of Naidu after hitting it with footwear, and this video is now going viral.

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The TDP also faced protests in other parts of Andhra Pradesh as the ticket distribution for some constituencies created internal dissent within the party. A report in The Hindu confirms these details.

The Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh for 175 seats were held on May 13, 2024, alongside the Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission of India (ECI) website shows that TDP member Gummanur Jayaram won the election with 101,700 votes from Guntakal. The TDP won 135 of the 175 seats in the Assembly elections.

Taking account of these evidences, we can understand that this video was taken before the 2024 general elections commenced, not after the election results were announced.

 Conclusion

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along the viral video to be Misleading. Old and unrelated video shared as people burning Chandrababu Naidu’s photo for supporting Modi. The viral video shows TDP followers protesting over the selection of the Guntakal candidate in March 2024.