Fact Check: Allu Arjun campaigns for Congress in Lok Sabha? Nope, this is from New York

Fact Check: Allu Arjun campaigns for Congress in Lok Sabha? Nope, this is from New York

Is Telugu superstar Allu Arjun campaigning for the Congress party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections? A video featuring him is being shared widely on social media with this claim. In the viral clip, Arjun, wearing a sash with “Grand Marshal” written on it, can be seen standing on a vehicle and waving his hand towards the crowd.

One post featuring the clip claimed, “Allu Arjun the biggest superstar of India is campaigning for Congress party.” Its archive can be seen here.

India Today Fact Check found that the video is from New York’s 2022 India Day parade. Allu Arjun has not campaigned for the Congress party.

Our Probe

We found no reports about Allu Arjun campaigning for the Congress party. A reverse image search of the screengrabs from the viral video led us to the same clip on YouTube, uploaded on August 25, 2022, to the channel “DesiNewYorker”. A part of the viral clip can be seen at the 7.29-minute mark.

According to the title of the YouTube video, it was shot in New York City during the India Day Parade in 2022. According to a WION report from August 22, 2022, Allu Arjun represented India as “Grand Marshal” at the 40th India Parade in New York City on August 21, 2022. Arjun attended this event with his wife Sneha Reddy.

Arjun had posted about being in New York for the parade on his X account.

We also found a video uploaded by “New York Street” YouTube channel on August 22, 2022, which showed the parade in full. In it, Arjun can be seen in the same attire, standing on the same vehicle.

Thus, the viral clip is not related to the Lok Sabha polls.Â

Allu Arjun and Politics

Arjun has political connections. His uncle, actor Pawan Kalyan, formed the Janasena Party in 2019. During the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Arjun campaigned for Kalyan in Palakollu, Andhra Pradesh. In February this year,

Arjun’s father-in-law Kancharla Chandrashekhar Reddy quit the Bharat Rashtra Samithi to join the Congress party.

While Reddy has said on multiple occasions that Arjun would campaign for him if necessary. Arjun has not commented on this so far. Reddy hasn’t received a ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls yet.

It is, thus, clear that the viral clip does not show Allu Arjun campaigning for the Congress party.