Fact Check: News report on Nitish Kumar quitting NDA is from 2022, not 2024
The claim is misleading as the video is from 2022 and is not a recent development after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 21 Jun 2024 1:14 PM GMT
Claim: Bihar chief minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar quit the NDA and rejoined the INDIA bloc in 2024.
Fact: The claim is misleading. The News 24 report on Nitish Kumar quitting the NDA is from 2022.
Hyderabad: A video of News 24 anchor Manak Gupta reporting on Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumarās departing from the NDA alliance is making rounds on social media. The footage includes a media statement from Nitish Kumar, where he announces that, with the consent of MPs, MLAs and the partyās senior leaders, they have decided to leave the NDA.
A verified X handle shared the video with the caption, āHas Nitish Kumar turned around?ā The text in the video states Nitish Kumar has switched back to the INDIA bloc and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will become the prime minister. (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found the claim misleading as the video is from 2022 and is not a recent development after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
We noticed the account name Dhruv Rathee Satire at the bottom of the tweet. This hinted that the video was first shared by a parody account which was taken seriously and shared by several other X accounts. (Archive)
We also conducted a specific keyword search on YouTube and found a 50-minute video of Manak Guptaās show Rashtra Ki Baat live-streamed on the News 24 channel on August 9, 2022. The title of the video was āWhy did Nitish Kumar leave BJP?ā (translated from Hindi)
In the video, Gupta can be heard saying that Nitish Kumar has resigned from the Bihar CM post and he will swear in again with RJDās Tejaswi Yadav as the deputy CM. After Guptaās clip, the video shows a media byte of Kumar at the 1:14-minute timestamp announcing that they have decided to leave the NDA with the approval of his party leaders.
We found the statement of Nitish Kumar also published by Aaj Takās YouTube channel on August 9, 2022.
In 2022, Nitish Kumar took a significant step by leaving the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). At that time, he resigned as the chief minister of Bihar. He joined the Mahagathbandhan alliance, which included the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) led by Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Congress, and three Left parties. Nitish Kumar played a crucial role in the formation of the INDIA bloc, hosting the first meeting of Opposition leaders from across the country.
However, the dynamics shifted again and ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kumar returned to the NDA, forming a new government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the alliance, the JD(U) and BJP each won 12 seats, while other partners, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) (Ram Vilas) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAMS), won 5 and 1 seat(s) respectively in Bihar in the Lok Sabha elections.
Hence, we conclude that the video of Nitish Kumar quitting the NDA and News 24 reporting the event is from 2022. Currently, Nitish Kumar is with the NDA. The claim is misleading.
