Haryana State Assembly elections are scheduled to be held on October 5, 2024. Reports of a rift in the Haryana Congress party between former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress general secretary Kumari Selja have begun to make rounds.
Against this backdrop, an image of Hooda and Selja together in a cheerful mood is being widely shared with the claim that the two met recently after their disputes came to light.
A social media user shared the image with the caption, “This photo has set the entire BJP on fire. To Khattar, Modi ji and Shah ji: why is everyone worried?” (Translated from Hindi)
SouthCheck found that the claim was misleading. The viral image is old.
On doing a Google reverse image search, we found an X account, The Hawk Eye, that quote tweeted a post sharing the viral photo. In the quote tweet, the account shared a screenshot of a tweet allegedly made by Bhupinder Singh Hooda which contained the viral photo. The screenshot showed the date of the tweet as September 24, 2019.
The tweet in the screenshot read: “Many congratulations and best wishes to former Union Minister, Rajya Sabha MP and @INCHaryana President sister @kumari_selja ji on her birthday. I pray to God for your good health and long life.”
Using this clue, we searched through the tweet made from the X account of Bhupinder Hooda and found the same tweet about Kumari Selja. The tweet was shared on September 24, 2020. The image was shared with a caption in which Hooda had wished birthday to Kumari Selja. We also found the same birthday message to Kumari Selja that Bhupinder Hooda tweeted on September 24, 2019.
We also found more reports regarding the alleged rift in the Haryana Congress party. A report by NDTV on September 23, 2024. According to the report, Kumari Selja said that she would be campaigning for the Haryana elections. “Congress MP Kumari Selja set the record straight Monday amid rumours she is sulking and has opted to not campaign for the Haryana election - because she was not allowed to contest - telling NDTV ‘there should never be any doubts’ about her commitment to the party and state,” the report said. She further said that she wanted to contest for the Haryana Legislative Assembly Elections, but the party did not allow it. Kumari Selja won Haryana’s Sirsa Lok Sabha seat in the General Election 2024.