Old photo shared as 'low turnout at TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu's 2024 roadshow'

What is the claim?

Social media users have shared an image of a garlanded yellow van in the middle of an empty street at night with sarcastic claims insinuating it shows an absence of people at a roadshow held by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and chief of the Telugu Desam Party Chandrababu Naidu in Nellore, a city in the south Indian state. A social media user on Instagram shared the photo (archived here) with the caption, “Massive Crowd at Night 10pm at Nellore.” An archived version of this post can be found here. 

The image was also shared by the official account of the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh, the Yuvajana Sramika Raithu Congress Party (YSRCP), with a caption in Telugu that meant: “Latest news is here….Babu is shocked to see such a huge crowd in his 40 years of political career. #EndofTDP.” Archived versions of this post and similar others can be viewed here,  here, and here. 

The claim has surfaced ahead of the assembly elections due to be held in Andhra Pradesh, along with the general elections, for 200 constituencies (175 assembly plus 25 parliamentary). In these elections, the Telugu Desam Party, the Jana Sena, and the Bharatiya Janata Party are contesting as an alliance against the ruling YSR Congress Party.

Screenshots of the posts going viral online (Source: X/ Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the image used in these posts is not recent but from at least 2019.

What are the facts?

A reverse image search showed us that this image has been online since 2019. We found that this photo was shared by Indian movie director Ram Gopal Varma on April 3, 2019, with the caption. “AP (Andhra Pradesh) people got upset because of delay in #LakshmisNTR release and boycotted his (Chandrababu Naidu’s) roadshow.” Varma’s post had been shared in the run-up to the 2019 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections held five years ago on April 11. 

‘Lakshmi’s NTR’ is a 2019 movie directed by Varma, based on the biography of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (also known as senior NTR), the founder of Telugu Desam Party and a renowned Telugu actor. Though we could not independently verify Ram Gopal Varma’s claim from 2019 that the delay in screening his film led to a no-show for Naidu’s rally, it is evident that this image has been online since 2019.

It is to be noted that TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu has not been in Nellore in the last few days, making redundant the claim that the image shows “latest news.” 

Naidu last attended a public meeting in Nellore on March 29. A livestream uploaded by the Telugu news channel Bharathi TV showed a considerable crowd around Naidu’s vehicle at this public rally.

Video capturing Chandrababu Naidu’s rally in Nellore on March 29. (Source: Bharathi TV Telugu/Screenshot)

Naidu had held another meeting in Nellore before that, on March 2. The rally was live-streamed by Mango News, a local YouTube channel that shares news updates from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Around the 38:14 timecode, we see a significant number of people sitting in the audience as Naidu addresses them from the dais. 

Photos of Chandrababu Naidu’s political event held in Nellore on March 2. (Source: Mango News/Screenshot)

The verdict

An old picture from at least 2019 has been shared with posts claiming almost nobody turned up for Chandrababu Naidu’s recent roadshow in Nellore ahead of the elections. In the two rallies that Naidu held in Nellore in March 2024, a sizeable crowd of people were in attendance. Therefore, we mark this claim as misleading.