Clipped video of Chandrababu Naidu shared as him criticising Pawan Kalyan

What is the claim?

A 21-second video of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has been shared on social media with a claim that he criticized Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. In the video, Naidu can be heard saying, "Our friend Pawan Kalyan is there now, if I am gone. You should see one thing. Is he better than us? Is he more educated? If he is auctioned, he won't even sell for a paisa..(original in Telugu)"

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However, the claim is misleading. The video, captured on August 23 at a village-level meeting in Andhra Pradesh, has been clipped to make it appear that Naidu was talking about deputy Kalyan, when in reality, he was referring to former Chief Minister and chief of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Jagan Mohan Reddy. 

What are the facts?

A reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video led us to a video of Chandrababu Naidu from his recent speech at a 'Gram Sabha' (village meeting) held in Kothapeta constituency of Andhra Pradesh's Konaseema district. 

The original video (archived here) was uploaded to Naidu's official YouTube channel on August 23, 2024. The now-viral portion can be seen from 10:55 to 11:13 minute mark. In the video, Naidu criticizes former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, calling him "psycho," a denigratory term used by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to refer to the chief of the YSRCP. At the Gram Sabha meeting, Naidu promised the development of villages in the state and lambasted the previous government under Reddy for "neglecting" them.

At 8:35 in the video, referring to Reddy, Naidu said, "In these last three months, did we ever stop the former Chief Minister Jagan or his YSRCP leaders from going anywhere? These people are toxic to society. You should begin this change. I have seen in the recent elections that after 42 years of TDP formation, we got 93 percent success rate for the first time. People made us victorious. In all districts, we got 100 percent results. We got 57 percent vote share; this indicates how bad the Opposition was and how inconvenient it must have been. This is an example."

At 10.55, we see Naidu making the same statement as in the now-viral video. He says, "Our friend Pawan Kalyan is there now, if I am gone. You should see one thing. Is he [Jagan] better than us? Is he more educated? If he is auctioned, he won't even sell for a paisa. That's why I request you all to compare. In 2014-19, 27,444 kilometers of cement road were laid; if we were in power, 100 percent of cement roads would have been finished. In these five years, they laid 6,643 kilometers of cement road they laid."

Local news outlets such as M9News and ABP Telugu also covered this speech and reported that Naidu criticized Reddy at the event.  

The verdict

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's speech from a local event has been clipped and shared out of context to claim he criticized Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and questioned his education. The longer video puts the viral clip into context and shows that Naidu was referring to the Opposition party YSRCP chief, Jagan Mohan Reddy, not Pawan Kalyan.