A video of two men exchanging blows at each other in a meeting-like setup is being shared on social media, with a claim that it shows Congress leaders from Madhya Pradesh beating each other after candidates were announced by the party for the 2023 Assembly Elections. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Visuals of Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders thrashing each other after candidates were announced by the party for 2023 Assembly Elections.
Fact: This video shows an incident that occurred in 2019 in Uttar Pradesh, where two BJP leaders exchanged blows at each other in a meeting. BJP MP Sharad Tripathi first assaulted fellow party member and MLA Rakesh Singh Baghel over an argument which eventually ended up as a fight between the two. It has nothing to do with the Congress party or Madhya Pradesh. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
To learn more about the viral clip, we performed a reverse image search on the internet using a few keywords. This search led us to several news reports (here, here, and here) from 2019 about the incident linked to the video.
Reportedly, in March 2019, an argument broke between BJP MP Sharad Tripathi and MLA Rakesh Singh Baghel over the name on the plaque for a local project which escalated into a fistfight in Uttar Pradesh. This eventually led to the MP Sharad hitting Rakesh with his shoe, instigating a violent fight between them.
The same video was also shared in the past with false claims that it shows AAP MP Sanjay Singh hitting his MLA, and Rajasthan BJP leaders thrashing each other after the ticket distribution. Fact-check articles debunking them can be read here and here.
To sum up, an old unrelated video is falsely being shared as visuals of Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders thrashing each other after candidates were announced by the party for the 2023 Assembly Elections.
