Edited clip used to claim Chandrababu Naidu called YSRCP 'winning team' in Andhra Pradesh polls

What is the claim?

The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is preparing for its upcoming elections. The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), currently in power, faces competition from the main opposition party, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which has formed an alliance with another opposition party, the Jana Sena Party (JSP). This coalition initiated their joint campaign with a public meeting named 'Jenda' (Flag) on February 28, 2024, in Tadepalligudem, Andhra Pradesh.

Amid this, a 27-second video clip of former Andhra Chief Minister and TDP leader N. Chandrababu Naidu has been circulating on social media. This clip purports to show Naidu referring to the YSRCP as the 'winning team' and the TDP-JSP alliance as the 'cheating team.' These claims were propagated by social media accounts in support of the incumbent YSRCP, accompanied by hashtags like 'YSJaganAgain' and 'TDPJSPCollapse.' Links to archives of such posts can be accessed here, here, and here. 

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

However, the video has been edited to make it seem like he is saying YSRCP is the 'winning team' in the elections.

What did we find?

Upon closer examination, the video reveals discrepancies between the audio and visual elements, particularly at the timestamps 0:07 and 0:23, where Naidu's lip movements do not align with the word "winning." This discrepancy suggests that the video may have been edited.

Further investigation led to the discovery of the original video of Naidu's speech during the joint public meeting organized by the TDP and JSP in Tadepalligudem on February 28, 2024. This speech was broadcast live by Telugu news channels such as ABN Andhrajyothy and TV 5 News.

The viral video has two parts. The video's first part can be seen at the 2:20:15 to 2:20:25 timestamp of the ABN live telecast. Here, Naidu says, “Hence, TDP-Janasena is the winning team. YSR Congress party is the cheating team. Isn’t it?” The same can be seen at 3:59:22 to 3:59:32 timestamp of the TV 5 News live telecast. 

The terms ‘winning team’ and ‘cheating team’ have been flipped to make it seem that Naidu is saying that YSRCP is the winning team. 

The second part can be seen from 2:20:26 to 2:20:38 timestamp of the ABN live telecast. In the original video, Naidu says, “Say it loudly… TDP-Janasena is the winning team. YSR Congress Party is the cheating team.” The same can seen at 3:59:23-3:59:35 timestamp of the TV 5 News live telecast. 

These findings make it clear that the viral video was edited to falsely portray Naidu as endorsing the YSRCP as the "winning team" in the forthcoming Andhra Pradesh elections.

The verdict

An edited video clip has been shared to claim that Chandrababu Naidu declared the YSRCP as the 'winning team' in the upcoming Andhra Pradesh elections. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.