A news bulletin of the ‘TV9 Bharatvarsh’ is being shared on social media claiming that Uttar Pradesh MLA Mukesh Verma has recently quit BJP and claimed that 20 MLAs are going to resign from BJP in the near future. According to the post, Mukesh Verma stated BJP is a party of 5% people. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: UP MLA Mukesh Verma recently quit BJP and claimed that 20 MLAs are willing to resign from BJP and join the Samajwadi Party.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows a news report telecast by ‘TV9 Bharatvarsh’ in January 2022. Ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Elections, Shikohabad MLA Mukesh Verma resigned from BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party in January 2022. Accusing the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government of neglecting backward classes, minority communities and farmers, Mukesh Verma quit BJP and claimed that 20 other MLAs are also going to resign from BJP and join SP along with Swami Prasad Mourya. The video does not show a recent news report. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched for the details of the video using relevant keywords on the internet, we found the same video published on the ‘TV9 Bharatvarsh’ YouTube channel on 14 January 2022. ‘TV9 Bharatvarsh’ reported that Shikohabad MLA Mukesh Verma has quit BJP ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Elections. Accusing the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government of neglecting backward classes, minority communities and farmers, Mukesh Verma quit BJP and claimed that 20 other MLAs are going to resign from BJP in the near future. Mukesh Verma reportedly stated BJP was a party of 5% people during an interview after his resignation from BJP.
Reporting MLA Mukesh Verma’s resignation from BJP, several news websites published articles and videos in January 2022. They can be seen here, here and here. As per these reports, Mukesh Verma was the 7th MLA to quit Uttar Pradesh’s ruling party BJP less than a month before the 2022 Elections.
After resigning from the primary membership of the BJP, Mukesh Verma joined the Samajwadi Party and was elected again as an MLA from the Shikohabad constituency in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Elections. Mukesh Verma is still continuing as a member of the Samajwadi Party. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post shows an old news report telecasted before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Elections.
To sum it up, an old news video reporting UP MLA Mukesh Verma’s resignation from BJP ahead of the 2022 UP Elections is shared as a recent one.
