A video showing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a press conference has gone viral on social media, with users claiming it shows a fresh political realignment amid the opposition’s protests over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In the clip, Nitish Kumar is heard saying that he will try to unite as many parties as possible across the country. The text embedded on the video reads, “Modi is badly trapped, here is a well, there is a ditch, Paltu Kumar, we all are one 1 Nitish Kumar, Rahul Gandhi, NATION”
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Will he really turn back... Comment Modi is badly trapped, here is a well, there is a ditch, Nitish Kumar Paltu Kumar we all are one…”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The video is from 2023.
On a Google Reverse Image search, we found that the same video was shared by the X account of ANI News on April 12, 2023, with a caption that reads, “We will try to unite as many political parties as we can and move forward together,” says Bihar CM Nitish Kumar
Taking a hint, we searched with relevant keywords and found that the incident was also reported by the Times of India on April 12, 2023. According to the report, Nitish Kumar and then-Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav met Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi as part of efforts to strengthen opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The report quoted Nitish Kumar saying he would try to bring as many parties together as possible.
The incident was also reported by The Print on April 12, 2023.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
