Expelled AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) formally joined the ruling DMK in Chennai on February 27, in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin.
In the above context, an image of O Panneerselvam has gone viral on social media in which he is seen bowing in front of DMK president and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin. The image is shared with a caption suggesting that Panneerselvam bowed in front of Stalin when he went to join the party.
The image is shared with a caption that reads, “Today, during the candidate selection session at Arivalayam. When OPS returned to normal after Jayalalithaa’s death. A former Chief Minister, who was in power three times as Chief Minister, is this for one or two seats? Kamal Haasan is better than him. Shame on him.”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral image is edited.
On a Google reverse image search, we were not able to find any official source of the viral image. However, we found a similar image shared by Rediff News on March 12, 2021.
In both images, we can see a man in a maroon shirt and a mask on the left side of Stalin. Moreover, we can see a woman sitting in a red saree, too. All of which suggests that both images are the same. We found that the image also has DMK executives Ponmudi and former DMK minister Subbulakshmi, who retired from politics in 2022.
All of which suggests that the viral image is old.
We also found that the original image was also shared by ANI's X handle on March 7, 2021, with a caption that reads, “Chennai: Udayanidhi Stalin, son of DMK President MK Stalin and DMK Youth Wing Secretary, was interviewed by the DMK election committee at party headquarters yesterday. Udayanidhi Stalin is seeking a ticket to contest from Chennai-Chepauk assembly constituency.”
We found that the event of Udayanidhi Stalin joining DMK was also reported by The Hindustan Times.
According to the report, ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly election 2021, the AIADMK and DMK were negotiating with key allies, with seat-sharing talks not fully finalised. However, the image was of the interviews for party ticket aspirants.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral image is old and has been edited.