Fact Check: Viral Post Claiming Rajasthan’s New CM Bhajanlal Sharma Praised Ex-CM Ashok Gehlot Is Fake

New Delhi, Vishvas News – Following the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly elections, Bhajanlal Sharma has been declared as the new Chief Minister of the state. A screenshot of a post is circulating widely on social media, wherein Bhajanlal Sharma is mentioned as the username with his picture as the profile pic. The acting Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, is commended in the post. Users are sharing this screenshot, asserting that the future Chief Minister of Rajasthan is also expressing praise for Ashok Gehlot.

Upon investigation, Vishvas News has determined that the username featured in the viral screenshot belongs to a parody account created in the name of Bhajanlal Sharma. No such post has originated from Bhajanlal’s original account. Users are sharing this screenshot under the assumption that it represents the former handle of Bhajanlal Sharma, the BJP MLA and prospective Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

What’s going viral?

Facebook user Padam Fadklaya (Archive Link) while posting the screenshot on December 13, wrote, “This is the power of Gehlot saab Ashok Gehlot ji”.

It is written on the screenshot, “Electoral victory in its place but underestimating his contribution as a citizen would be ingratitude. If someone has given the courage to a poor man to stand in a private hospital, his name is Ashok Gehlot! Thank you, Chief Minister.“ Facebook user ‘M S Dhanawat’ also made a similar claim while sharing this screenshot.

Investigation:

Upon examination of the viral screenshots to authenticate the viral claim, we observed that the username “Bhajan Lal Sharma” and user ID @mlabhajanlal are mentioned. Upon further scrutiny of the account, it was discovered that the bio explicitly states that it is a parody account. This account was established in June 2023 and has 64 followers. However, the viral post was not found on this handle, and the profile picture differs from the one featured in the viral screenshot.

To delve deeper into this account, we sought assistance from the Wayback Machine, which has archived two screenshots of this handle, though they were inaccessible. Efforts to locate the cache of the viral post were also unsuccessful.

Subsequently, we searched the authentic Twitter account of Bhajanlal Sharma. An official post from the CMO Rajasthan’s handle on December 13 reveals that the swearing-in ceremony of the new Chief Minister is scheduled for December 15, with the user @BhajanlalBjp tagged. Information about Bhajanlal Sharma is also provided from the official account of Rajasthan BJP.

The Twitter bio of the user @BhajanlalBjp reads, “Leader Legislative Party BJP-Raj., MLA- Sanganer Assembly Constituency || State General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajasthan @bjp4rajasthan“. This account has been active since December 2016 and boasts more than 124,000 followers. Upon scanning this account, no such post was found.

We reached out to Rajasthan BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bhardwaj, who clarified, “Bhajanlal Sharma has not made any such post. His real Twitter handle is @BhajanlalBjp.“

This establishes that the viral screenshot was not posted from the official Twitter handle of Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma. Additionally, the viral post was not found on Bhajanlal Sharma’s parody account @mlabhajanlal, making it impossible to confirm whether it was edited or deleted after being posted from the parody account.

We also scrutinised the profile of the Facebook user who shared the fake screenshot. Residing in Lalsot, Rajasthan, this user has around 13,000 followers and is influenced by a particular ideology.