Fact Check: Is the photo of Jyotiraditya Scindia holding 'Operation LOTUS' document real?

Hyderabad: After Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP, a photograph of him wearing saffron tilak and saffron kurta and holding documents with 'Operation LOTUS' written on them has been doing the rounds of social media.

Daryagunj municipal councillor from Congress Yasmin Kidwai also tweeted the image criticising Mr Scindia. Her tweet read "How can a congress person join bjp -personal growth is understandable but Ideology? And if u don't have even that then how does it matter where u go Such a disappointment (sic)." Though this tweet is deleted now, the image is still going around on WhatsApp.

Fact Check:

Newsmeter did a reverse image search on Google and found that the original version of this image published in Deccan Herald on 4 November 2018 shows Mr Scindia in a white kurta and carrying some documents.

https://www.deccanherald.com/national/cong-names-16-more-candidates-701586.html

After checking the latest news reports, we can confirm that Mr Scindia was wearing a different attire while joining the BJP. We also found that the documents he's carrying in the original image do NOT have 'Operation LOTUS' written on them. Here is a photo gallery of the event in OutlookIndia.com:

https://www.outlookindia.com/photos/people/jyotiraditya-scindia/10327?photo-223137

Therefore, the photograph of Jyotiraditya Scindia wearing saffron tilak and saffron kurta and holding documents that read 'Operation LOTUS' is a doctored image created to tarnish his image for joining the BJP.