Old clip shared as Shivraj Singh Chouhan crying after not being appointed Madhya Pradesh CM

What is the claim?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently appointed Mohan Yadav, a three-time MLA and minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, as the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. This marks the first time in 17 years that the BJP has replaced Chouhan as the state's chief minister following their victory in the recent state Assembly elections.

Amid these developments, a video showing the outgoing chief minister in tears has been circulating on social media. It claims that he was distraught over Yadav's appointment as the chief minister-designate of Madhya Pradesh. An archived version of the post can be accessed here.

The video has gained considerable traction on X (formerly known as Twitter), and archived versions of posts with similar claims can be accessed here, here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the viral post (Source: X/Screenshot)

Contrary to these claims, the video dates back to 2019. It captures a moment when Chouhan became emotional following the death of Bharti, one of his adopted daughters. This incident is unrelated to the recent elections in Madhya Pradesh.

How did we discover the truth?

The viral video, bearing the 'NewsTak' logo on the top right of the frame, led us to a more extended version on the channel's YouTube page, posted on July 19, 2019. The video's description reveals that Chouhan was overcome with emotion due to the passing of his adopted daughter, Bharti. Upon receiving the news of Bharti's demise in Raipur, he took a special flight to Vidisha to see her one last time.

A 2019 report by Dainik Bhaskar noted that Chouhan had attended Bharti's wedding just 14 months earlier. Bharti's husband, Ravindra Verma, told the media, "My wife was suffering from weakness in the body and was undergoing treatment. In the morning, she vomited, and after that, we took her to the district hospital, where she was declared 'brought dead.'"

Furthermore, an Aaj Tak report stated that Chouhan and his wife, Sadhna Singh, had attended Bharti's wedding in May 2018. Chouhan runs an institution in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, that shelters destitute children. Bharti lived at this institution before being adopted by Chouhan.

The verdict

The claim that Shivraj Singh Chouhan cried because he felt betrayed by the BJP's decision to name Mohan Yadav as the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is false. The video in question is from 2019. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.

(Translated by Rajini KG)

Read this fact-check in Hindi here.