Fact Check: Did Edappadi Palaniswami condemn Annamalai?

Users claim that the AIADMK coordinator Edappadi Palaniswami had condemned Tamil Nadu BJP leader Annamalai.

The text in the news card can roughly be translated as, "BJP condemnation - anti-EPS. AIADMK strongly condemns the intimidation of LKG children. People like Annamalai should simply go through shows like this - Edappadi Palanisamy."

NewsMeter had also received the viral news card on WhatsApp.

Fact Check

The claim is False.

According to a report published by The News Minute on January 17, 2022, "The BJP in Tamil Nadu questioned a recently-aired episode of the reality television show called 'Junior Super Stars Season 4' broadcast on Zee Tamil, alleging that two kid contestants performed a skit that was allegedly to mock Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

NewsMeter found that it was after this, that the news card had begun going viral.

We then had a careful observation of the viral news card. The news card had a mention of Thanthi TV.

Taking a cue from this, we performed a keyword search which directed us to a post uploaded on the Facebook page of Thanthi TV on January 11, 2022. The caption of the post read, "21 items of the Pongal collection were not distributed- Edappadi Palaniswami."

The post had a similar news card with similar graphics. However, the text in the placard was different.

We then compared the viral news card with the original news card posted by Thanthi TV.

Meanwhile, we tried searching for reports related to the claim, but couldn't find any such report. However, we did find a report published by The Hindu on January 11, 2022.

According to the report, "The AIADMK leader alleged that items in the hamper had been over-priced, procured from north India despite being made in TN and that many residents were not receiving all 21 items they were supposed to."

It is therefore evident that the claim made through the viral post is False. Edappadi Palaniswami did not condemn Annamalai.