Rahul Gandhi did not wipe his nose on Mallikarjun Kharge’s coat

Hyderabad: A video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi allegedly wiping his nose on Mallikarjun Kharge’s coat has gone viral on social media.

The same video was also shared last month on Twitter by the Karnataka unit of the BJP saying that this epitomises how Gandhis treats senior leaders like Mr. Kharge. In the same tweet, they also accused Rahul Gandhi of using Mr. Kharge as a “tissue paper.”

The clip has again resurfaced on social media amidst the upcoming Karnataka elections.

Let’s find the truth behind the viral clip.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be misleading.

We started our investigation with a keyword search and found a tweet by ANI. It quoted Rahul Gandhi as saying, “If I touch you now, they say I'm wiping my nose on your back. Utter nonsense. Have you seen that? That I am helping you over there, they’re saying that I’m wiping my nose on you.”

We also found a report by OpIndia clarifying the same. The report added, “In an attempt to reply to the BJP, Congress’ social media in-charge Nitin Agarwal said that the Congress scion had invited Kharge to drop him at his house.”

It quoted Mr. Agarwal as saying, “Watch the full clip, he invited Kharge Ji to drop him to his house, The 40% Commission Government has left with nothing to campaign & as usual started fake Propaganda.”

Many other media outlets like The Tribune and Times Now also reported the same.

From this, it is evident that the whole scene has been manipulated and clipped in such a way that it looks like Rahul Gandhi wiped his nose on Mallikarjun Kharge’s coat when in reality he was just trying to help Mr. Kharge.