Did Andhra Assembly Speaker criticize Pawan Kalyan over 'garbage tax'? No, video is edited

What is the claim?

A 19-second video featuring Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu, the speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and a leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is circulating with the claim that he criticized Pawan Kalyan, the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and leader of the Jana Sena Party (JSP).

In the video, Patrudu can be heard saying (translated from Telugu), “That is why I call them waste fellows. I would say that whoever is ruling us, are waste fellows. They are waste fellows because they are levying a tax on garbage. What else should we call people who impose a tax on garbage, if not waste fellows?”

The video includes an image from an Eenadu newspaper article speculating about a potential garbage tax in Pithapuram town, the constituency represented by Kalyan in the Assembly.

The video was shared on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) with a caption alleging that Ayyanna was criticizing Kalyan. Archived posts can be accessed here and here.

Screenshot of the social media post (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, it's important to note that the video dates back to 2021, when Patrudu was criticizing the then-YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.

What did we find?

Our investigation into news reports regarding the alleged comments made by the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker did not yield any results. We then conducted a reverse image search on keyframes from the video and discovered a video uploaded by Telugu news channel Mahaa News (archived here) on September 18, 2021.

The video, titled in Telugu “YCP Ministers are waste fellows: Ayyannapatrudu Sensational Comments on YCP Sarkar,” shows Patrudu criticizing the "current chief minister" and other government ministers. The viral clip can be viewed from 0:38 to 0:54 in the video. 

This same video, with an extended duration, was also shared (archived here) across various social media platforms on September 16, 2021, during Jagan Mohan Reddy's tenure as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

According to a report in the Times of India dated July 15, 2021, the then YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government of Andhra Pradesh introduced a user tax on garbage collection as part of the Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) project. A report in The Hindu on April 19, 2024, indicated that this tax ranged from Rs 30-120 per month for households and Rs 200-15,000 per month for businesses.

Similarly, a report in Eenadu on December 14, 2023, stated that the government collected Rs. 165 crores annually through this garbage tax.

During the election campaign, the alliance government consisting of the Telugu Desam Party, Jana Sena Party, and Bharatiya Janata Party promised to abolish the garbage tax if elected. After winning the elections, they fulfilled this promise by abolishing the tax in June.

The verdict

The video circulating online, where TDP leader Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu criticizes the former YSRCP government for imposing a garbage tax, is being misrepresented as criticism directed towards Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan.