Fact Check: Is star actor Allu Arjun campaigning for Congress? Know the truth behind viral video

Hyderabad: A video featuring actor Allu Arjun has emerged on social media, alleging his involvement in the campaigning for Congress in the Lok Sabha elections 2024. On May 13, Telangana is set to hold the crucial Lok Sabha elections for all its 17 seats.

A tweet posted by KRK reads, “Allu Arjun the biggest superstar of India is campaigning for Congress party.”

The archives of the posts can be seen here and here.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false as the video shows actor Allu Arjun representing India as the Grand Marshal at the annual Indian Day parade in New York back in 2022.

We started our investigation with a keyword search to find media reports about the actor’s campaigning for the Congress party but could not yield any coverage on the same.

We found a recent report by Hindustan Times dated February 16, 2024, stating that Allu Arjun’s father-in-law Kancharla Chandrasekhar Reddy joined the Congress parting from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). Chandrasekhar Reddy has been a long-time BRS leader in Nalgonda’s Nagarjuna Sagar. However, the report did not have Allu Arjun endorsing Chandrasekhar Reddy or the party.

Upon running the keyframes from the viral video through a search, we uncovered an extended version of the video on the official YouTube channel of Tollywood actor Allu Arjun. This video was published on August 23, 2022, and is titled ‘Icon Star Allu Arjun as Grand Marshal @ 40th India Day Parade in New York | Highlights | #IndiaAt75’.

We found the same video uploaded by entertainment YouTube channels as well.

We also discovered an ANI report featuring stills from the viral video titled ‘Allu Arjun represents India as Grand Marshal at annual Indian Day parade in New York,’ dated August 2, 2022.

According to ANI, “renowned South Indian actor Allu Arjun served as the Grand Marshal at the annual Indian Day parade in New York, coinciding with India’s 75th year of independence.” The report includes several screenshots from Allu Arjun’s Instagram post during the event.

The report was also published across media outlets like The Times of India, Industry Hit, The Print, Hindustan Times, and several others.

We also came across the photo gallery from the event on Alamy, a stock image website. It was categorized under ‘Grand Marshal Allu Arjun Stock Photos and Images.’

In conclusion, it’s evident that the viral video from 2022 featuring Allu Arjun as the Grand Marshal in New York is unrelated to the ongoing elections in 2024.