Video from Tamil Nadu shared as brawl between Andhra Pradesh opposition alliance workers

What is the claim?

A 21-second video clip is being shared on social media with the claim that it shows that the cadres of the opposition alliance — the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party (JSP), and Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) — fighting among themselves ahead of the Assembly polls in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The video shows people throwing chairs at each other in a hall while people on the stage try to rein them in. Archived versions of posts sharing the clip can be accessed here and here.

Screenshot of the viral social media posts. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, this video is from Tamil Nadu and not from Andhra Pradesh.

What did we find?

The opposition alliance in Andhra Pradesh is conducting a series of ‘Atmeeya Samavesam’ meetings across the state. However, no media story from any reliable outlet on the meetings mentioned any such scuffle at any event.

On observing the video closely, we spotted saffron scarves on several attendees of the event. While the color saffron is mostly used by the BJP and is part of their official election symbol, the colors of the TDP and JSP symbols— yellow and red, respectively— are not to be seen anywhere in the clip. We could, however, see News18 Tamil banners on the stage, which were decorated with signs in the Tamil language. From this, we inferred that the video could be from Tamil Nadu.

We then looked for news reports about the incident using relevant keywords and ran the key frames through reverse-image search. We came across the same video uploaded on YouTube by various accounts. Different video descriptions said that the incident was from a News18 event, where members of the ruling party of Tamil Nadu— Dravida Munntera Kazahgam (DMK), and the BJP, which is also part of the opposition in the southern state, threw chairs at each other.

News18 uploaded a live-stream of the event titled ‘Makkal Sabai’ (People’s Meeting) on their YouTube channel on April 7. According to the description, the event was a debate between representatives of various parties in Tamil Nadu.

Though this YouTube video doesn’t have the scuffle part, comparing the viral clip to the News 18 footage confirms that both visuals are from the same program. 

Comparison between the viral clip and the original video of the News 18 Tamil event. (Source: X/News 18 Tamil Nadu/Screenshots)

SG Suryah, state secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP and a participant in this event, had posted a video of the said scuffle on his X account and identified the location as Kanchipuram. He mentioned that the incident took place on April 6. The video he uploaded shows people throwing chairs at each other, and we can see the same blue banner in the background of the speakers.

The verdict

An unrelated video of a scuffle between DMK and BJP members in Tamil Nadu has been shared as opposition alliance cadres fighting among themselves in Andhra Pradesh. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.