An old photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Vasundhara Raje is viral online with the false claim that Raje in her meeting threatened to leave the party and join Congress if she was not made the Chief Minister again.
BOOM found that the claims are misleading and the viral photo is from January 2018.
The BJP is set to form a majority government in the state of Rajasthan after winning 115 out of 199 seats in the recent elections. The victory has also led to widespread discussions about who will be appointed as the next CM of Rajasthan by the party, with contenders such as Vasundhara Raje, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Baba Balaknath,and Diya Kumari being floated.
The photo of Vasundhara Raje with PM Modi is being shared on X with the caption, "BREAKING : Vasundhara Raje met PM Narendra Modi. She told "I am the CM of Rajasthan" If you agree then I am CM from BJP, if not then I am CM from Congress 🔥 [Sources]"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post is also circulating on Facebook with the caption, "Repeating again, Vasundhara will become CM. Her 42 loyal legislators have resigned according to her instructions. Either make me CM or I will go to Congress after the 42 resign."
(Original text in Hindi: "फिर से दोहरा रहा हूं, CM वसुंधरा ही बनेंगी. उनके 42 वफादार विधायकों ने उनके कहे अनुसार इस्तीफा तैयार करके रखा है. या तो मुझे CM बनाओ नहीं एक 42 का इस्तीफा दिला कर मैं चली कांग्रेस")
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the photo is from January 2018 and is unrelated to the ongoing discussions about the next CM of Rajasthan.
We ran a reverse image search of the photo on Google and found a post by the official Facebook handle of PMO India shared on January 6, 2018. The image in this post was an exact match to the viral photo and was shared with the caption, "Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje Ji called on PM Shri Narendra Modi."
According to reports, Raje met PM Modi to invite him to the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Barmer refinery that was scheduled to take place on January 16. Raje also gifted a traditional Picchwai painting to the PM during this visit and posted about the same on her official X handle.
Vasundhara Raje's recent meeting with BJP President JP Nadda on December 8 in New Delhi further fuelled speculations about the selection of Rajasthan's CM.
Diya Kumari, who won the seat from Vidyadhar Nagar, also visited New Delhi on December 6 to meet Nadda and convey her best wishes after the party's win in Rajasthan.