Old photos of Congress party meetings in Hyderabad falsely linked to the Hyderabad floods - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 21, 2020
A photo collage of Congress party leaders is being shared on the social media claiming that the Muslim leaders of Congress party in Hyderabad are celebrating in a farmhouse while Hyderabad city is drowning in floodwaters. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Celebrations of Congress party Muslim leaders in a farmhouse during Hyderabad floods.
Fact: These photos were shot during the Congress party meetings held on ’13 September 2020’ and  ‘6 October 2020’, a few weeks before the Hyderabad city is affected by floods. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Photos (1,3 and 4):
On observing the photos carefully, we could see Telangana Congress party leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir in some of the photos. On reverse image search of the photos shared in the post using these keywords, a video showing similar visuals as shared in the post was found on ‘Star News Express’ YouTube channel. This video was posted on YouTube on ‘07 October 2020’. In the description of the video, it is mentioned that more than 200 educated youth joined Congress party at Karwan Golconda division in the presence of Ex-Minister Mohammed Shabir Ali. It is mentioned that the Karwan constituency’s past  MLA contestant and in charge, Mohammed Al Hajri arranged this meeting in Karwan. The same visuals were found in another YouTube video posted on ’06 October 2020’. In this video description also, it is mentioned as the Congress event conducted on ’06 October 2020’ at Karwan area of Golconda division.
Photos (2,5 and 6):
On reverse image search of the remaining photos shared in the post, we found the same photos in a Facebook post of Hyderabad Congress Minority department chairman Sameer Waliullah. In his post, he mentioned that these photos were captured during a dinner get together arranged in his farmhouse on ‘13 September 2020’. He shared these photos to thank all the leaders who attended this get together.
From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the photos shared in the post are old and not related to the Hyderabad floods caused by the heavy rains on ‘13 October 2020’.