Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge speaking at the Muslim Youth League state rally in Kochi on Sunday. Image: X/@PriyankKharge
Bengaluru: BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and Girish Bharadwaj challenged Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on November 10 over a group photograph he shared in connection with a reported seizure of 44,250 cartridges in Bihar and Haryana. In separate posts, both cited a fact-check that described the circulated group image as AI-generated.
Surya, the Bengaluru South MP, accused Kharge of spreading false information. He shared a screenshot of a November 7 FactMyths article about the picture and questioned Kharge’s earlier proposal for a fact-checking initiative in Karnataka.
Bharadwaj had separately shared a screenshot of the same fact-check earlier that evening. He urged the authorities to register an FIR against Kharge and questioned how Karnataka’s fact-checking initiative would respond to the minister’s post.
In a separate November 7 comparison, Only Fact traced the group scene to a March 29 Instagram reel. It reported differences in the faces and other details and concluded that the viral version had been altered to show additional people in RSS attire. Only Fact said one person accused in the case was already shown wearing that attire in the earlier image. Its comparison addressed the authenticity of the photograph.
In his earlier post about the reported cartridge seizure, Kharge asked the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) about the alleged organisational affiliations of people accused in the case. He also called on the RSS to register and offered to pay its registration fee.
About the Author
