An old photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is going viral online with the claim that Kejriwal is apologising to Gadkari, and the latter is reading the apology.
BOOM found that the viral picture is from 2014, Kejriwal met Gadkari on the issue of regularising e-rickshaws.
Recently, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Parliament after being sentenced two years in jail in relation to a defamation case filed against him in Surat. Arvind Kejriwal spoke up about the matter and fiercely criticised the central government for Gandhi's disqualification. The picture of Kejriwal and Gadkari is being circulated in the backdrop of this issue to show that Kejriwal apologised to Gadkari to provoke Rahul Gandhi.
A Twitter user named Sanjay Tirthwani shared the picture with his verified handle and wrote, "Nitin Gadkari ji with Kejriwal ji in this photo! Now don't think that Kejriwal has gone to Delhi to discuss some "road project"! Kejriwal ji has gone to Nitin Gadkari to seek "apology" in writing, Gadkari ji reading "mafinama"!
(Original text in Hindi: "नितीन गडकरी " जी है ! अब आप ये ना सोचियेगा कि, केजरीवाल जी दिल्ली के लिए कोई " सड़क परियोजना " पर चर्चा करने गए है ! केजरीवाल जी नितीन गडकरी को लिखित में " माफी " मांगने गए है, गडकरी जी " माफ़ीनामा " पढ़ते हुए !”)
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Click here for an archive. Similar tweets can be found here and here.
The same claim is also viral on Facebook.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the photo is old and was taken in 2014 when Kejriwal had met Nitin Gadkari in order to discuss the regularisation of e-rickshaws.
BOOM found that 'Getty Images' was written on the viral image. Taking a hint from this, we searched for the photo on the stock images website with the help of related keywords.
According to the information given with this picture, “Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal meeting with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on regularisation of e-rickshaws at Transport Bhawan in New Delhi on September 16, 2014. "
Several media reports were published on the meeting between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on the issue of regularising e-rickshaws in New Delhi. See here and here.
Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted about this meeting.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also tweeted a picture of this meeting with Arvind Kejriwal.
After this, we looked for more information about Arvind Kejriwal's apology to Nitin Gadkari and found that in the year 2018, he had apologised in writing to Union Minister Gadkari in a defamation case.
In January 2014, Arvind Kejriwal released an alleged list of the country's most corrupt leaders, in which the names of many leaders including Nitin Gadkari and Kapil Sibal were included. In one of his statements, Kejriwal had described Gadkari as "one of the most corrupt leaders of the country", after which Nitin Gadkari filed a defamation case against him. It was then that Kejriwal had apologised to Gadkari in writing, and the latter had accepted his apology.
In his letter, Kejriwal wrote, “I have nothing personal against you. I regret the same."
According to media reports, Kejriwal had also apologised to the then Congress leader Kapil Sibal along with Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia.