That's Gujarat's Agriculture Minister With PM Modi, Not Oreva Group's Owner

The image shows PM Modi with Raghavji Patel, Gujarat Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.

Fact-check: The claim states that the image shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the owner of Oreva Group, which was responsible for the repair of the Morbi bridge. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Official Twitter handles of Odisha Youth Congress and Rajasthan Youth Congress shared an image of a man greeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to claim that he was the who got the tender to repair the Morbi bridge in Gujarat, which collapsed on 30 October and claimed the lives of at least 141 people.

Satyanarayan Patel, a member of the Indian National Congress (INC), along with several social media users, also shared the image to claim that it shows Modi with industrialist Odhav Patel, whose company had taken the contract.

However, the image shows Modi with Raghavji Patel, a minister of agriculture, animal husbandry and cow breeding in Gujarat.

CLAIM

The photo is being shared to take a dig at PM Modi. One of the tweets reads, "The man got the contract to repair and maintain the #MorbiBridge is also a Modi crony.."

An archive can be seen here. 

An archive can be seen here.

An archive can be seen here.

Similar claims can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT 

On conducting a simple reverse image search on Google, we came across the same image uploaded by Gujarat Cabinet Minister Raghavji Patel on his Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

This photo shows Raghavji Patel.

Patel is the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cow Breeding in Gujarat.

Patel had uploaded pictures with Modi on his social media accounts on 14 October 2021. The duo had met in Delhi.

Further, we looked up the details of 'Odhav Patel', as several claims mentioned that it showed him with Modi. We found that Odhavji Raghavji Patel was the founder of the group and had passed away in 2012.

The Ajanta- Oreva Group is now primarily led by Jaysukhbhai Bhalodia.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN GUJARAT'S MORBI BRIDGE?

A suspension bridge on the Machchhu river in Gujarat's Morbi collapsed on 30 October killing at least 141 people. Resuce and search operations are being carried out by the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

The bridge was under renovation for the last seven months, and had been reopened to the public on 26 October. At the time of collapse, around 150 people were said to be standing on the bridge.

The bridge was under a contract for maintenance with the Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited). So far, nine people have been arrested in connection with the case. Those arrested include – two managers of Oreva company, two repair contractors, three security guards, and two ticket sellers.

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