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Did Prakash Raj Criticize Congress In The Lead Up To Karnataka Elections 2023? No, Viral Claim Is False
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Karnataka, 9 May 2023 10:17 AM GMT
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As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
We found that the viral video shows Prakash Raj criticizing the Congress in a video from 17 April 2019. The video was shot before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Bangalore Central seat, where Raj contested as an Independent candidate.
Leading up to the Karnataka Assembly polls, a video showing actor Prakash Raj criticizing the Congress is going viral across social media. The video is going viral with the claim that Raj is rebuking the Congress and imploring people to not vote for the party in the upcoming elections.
Claim:
In the viral video, the actor can be heard saying, "Don't waste your vote on Congress. I have not joined any political party. I am an independent candidate. I take offense to this dirty politics by the Congress".
Sharing the video, Twitter user Rupa Murty wrote, "Dear Karnataka, Prakasha has asked you all to NOT waste your votes on Congress. He is offended by the dirty politics of Congress party. So please vote for BJP."
Another person wrote, "Big message Came From @prakashraaj Ji,” with the hashtag “KarnatakaAssemblyElection”.
Fact Check:
We isolated the keyframes of the viral video using InVid's Keyframe Analysis tool and conducted a reverse image search. This led us to the same video uploaded on the Twitter account of the actor on April 17, 2019.
The tweet is captioned, "FAKE NEWS by CONGRESS.. look at the dirty politics of this party. SHAME ON CONGRESS.. HAVE SENT THE COMPLAINT TO ELECTION COMMISSION WITH PROOF ..please spread and share to counter DIRTY POLITICS"
In the video, Prakash Raj alleges that the Congress party is spreading misinformation about him. In the video, he say, "Look at the dirty politics the congress is doing in Bangalore Central. A man who claims to be Rizwan's PA, his name is Mazhar Ahmed. He had taken a photo of me and Rizwan attending a candidate's meeting and then said Prakash Raj is supporting Congress. So don't waste your vote on Congress. I have not joined any political party. I am an independent. I seriously take offence to this dirty politics stooping down by the Congress party and Rizwan. I have given an election complaint and please don't believe in such rumours".
We conducted a keyword search and found media reports which documented the allegations made by Raj against the Congress. A Deccan Herald report published on April 17, 2019, titled, 'Prakash Raj attacks Congress over 'Fake News'
The DH report reads, "Bangalore Central candidate and actor Prakash Raj attacked the Congress party on the eve of elections on Wednesday, for sharing a post in various social media platforms which claimed that he backed the Congress party."
We also came across a report on the same published by Jagran on 17 April 2019.
Taking a cue from this, we conducted a keyword search and found that Prakash Raj contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Bangalore Central seat. Raj contested as an independent candidate and Rizwan Arshad was the Congress candidate, as per this Indian Express report.
The Congress member Arshad Rizwan responded to Raj by imploring people in a tweet to not fall for the viral rumors. "Apparently, some fake news is being circulated about prakash raj's association with me. Request ppl not to fall for such rumours. I hv fought this election on the agenda of development & I hv people's blessing with me. @prakashraaj is an independent candidate & I wish him luck."
Conclusion:
We found that the viral video shows Prakash Raj criticizing the Congress in a video from 17 April 2019. The video was shot before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Bangalore Central seat, where Raj contested as an Independent candidate. Thus, the viral video is not connected to the upcoming Karnataka elections.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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