Fact Check: Chandrababu Naidu’s 2019 Comments On PM Modi Resurfaces Following Election Results

Following a seven-phase voting period, the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were declared on June 4. In a surprising result, the ruling BJP failed to gain a clear majority, meaning that they will have to rely on allies to form the next government.

Following this, a video surfaced on social media claiming that the former Andhra CM and TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu, whose party is allied with the BJP, remarked that all leaders are better than Narendra Modi.

The Facebook post reads: “All leaders are better than Narendra Modi. Says Chandra Babu Naidu but there are chances of him joining NDA 😟.”

FACT CHECK

Newsmobile fact-checked the claim and found it to be misleading.

We searched for the keywords “NDTV,” “Chandrababu Naidu,” “All leaders better,” and “Modi” on Google and found a report by the outlet dated February 11, 2019. The report covered a daylong fast in Delhi where Naidu demanded special status for his state. Prominent opposition leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Arvind Kejriwal, and Farooq Abdullah joined the TDP Chief in his protest. The report included a video interview with Naidu during his fast, and around 7 minutes 30 seconds into the video, Naidu is heard saying that all leaders are better than Narendra Modi.

According to an NDTV report, Naidu said, “Aligning with the BJP is a political compulsion, but forming an anti-BJP front has become a democratic compulsion.”

Responding to the ruling party’s criticism that the proposed grand alliance has too many contenders for the Prime Minister’s role, making it impossible to agree on a single candidate, the Andhra leader remarked that they “need not worry about that” and questioned whether the BJP had any other leader suitable for the role.

The TDP chief’s interview was also shared on NDTV’s official Facebook page in February 2019.

We also did not find any recent reports of Naidu, who is being seen as the kingmaker in the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls, criticizing PM Modi. In a recent X post, the TDP chief thanked PM Modi, Amit Shah, and JP Nadda for “their commitment to AP’s future.”

Therefore, Chandrababu Naidu’s 2019 remarks about PM Narendra Modi have been shared out of context.