Fact Check: TDP leader Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar calling for demolition of Ambedkar statue in Vijayawada is fake news

Hyderabad: A purported screengrab of Way2News, a Hyderabad-based mobile news app, is in circulation with the claim that senior leader of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar, has said that they will demolish the newly constructed Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue in Vijayawada after his party comes to power in Andhra Pradesh.

A Facebook user shared the photo of Kumar along with the screengrab and wrote, “As soon as Chandrababu government comes to power, we will demolish Ambedkar’s statue in Vijayawada:- Narendra Kumar. (Translated from Telugu)”

Several X and Facebook users have claimed the same. Click here, here and here to view the posts.

The claim comes in the backdrop of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy unveiling the world’s tallest statue of BR Ambedkar in the heart of Vijayawada city on January 19.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false.

We ran a relevant keyword search and came across a post by the Fact Check X handle of Way2News stating that the story was not published by them. They also mentioned in the post that some persons have used their logo and are spreading misinformation on WhatsApp.

An article by ABN Andhra Jyothy reported that Narendra Kumar filed a complaint with the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh on January 22, 2024. In the complaint, he said that the members of the YSRCP, the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh, are spreading misinformation attributed to him.

On January 22, Narendra Kumar took to X to inform that he filed a complaint with the Guntur SP regarding the fake news that he said that he would demolish the Ambedkar statue in Vijayawada. In the post, he also alleged that the YSRCP leaders are carrying out false propaganda against him. He also mentioned that he has appealed to the SP to initiate action against those police personnel who did not give heed to his complaint.

Hence, we conclude that the claim that TDP leader Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar said that he would demolish the newly constructed Ambedkar statue in Vijayawada is false.