Even though almost all newspapers and channels reported that Chandrababu Naidu went to the US last week for a medical check-up, an image of him walking in the streets of Singapore surfaced on social media in the last two days.
A netizen posted a picture on X, showing Naidu in Singapore instead of the USA. The image reportedly shows Naidu walking on Orchard Road in Singapore.
"What are you doing in Singapore when you say you are going to America?" said an X user who shared the image.
According to a digital news website known for its fact-checking activity, the claim made by the X user is false as the viral image of Naidu on Orchard Road is edited.
A reverse image search of the viral image led to a story published by CNA on September 27, 2023. The image featured in the article was the same as the viral image, except Naidu was not in it.
The image was captioned, "File photo of people crossing the road along the Orchard Road shopping belt in Singapore. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)."
The report stated, "This shows that the photo has been on the internet at least since September 2023."
Comparing both images side by side shows that they are identical; the woman in a white dress wearing a mask in the center of the frame and the man in a black t-shirt on the left side are present in both images in the same pose.
Despite this, the suspense continued regarding Naidu’s US visit. TDP members claim he went to the USA for a medical check-up with his wife Nara Bhuvaneshwari on May 19 and that he would be back within a week.
So far, there are no images of Naidu and his wife from the US, and the party members do not know their current location.
Interestingly, TDP’s NRI wing in-charge, Komati Jayaram, issued a statement that Naidu had not come to the US at all and that the report of him undergoing a medical check-up there was false. No TDP leader has denied Jayaram’s statement yet.