A screenshot of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's Twitter account is going viral on social media with a claim that he recently removed 'BJP' from his bio.
What does his Twitter bio read?: In the viral screenshot, Scindia's bio reads, "Union Minister for Civil Aviation & Steel, Govt. of India. Public servant & cricket enthusiast.”
Who shared it?: Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress' official Twitter page, General Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Kisan Congress Wasim Khan Meo, Congress leader Premchand Guddu also shared this claim along with several social media users.
The claim added that Scindia updated his bio after Congress won the Karnataka assembly elections and hinted at a possible "rebellion" in the BJP.
(Note: Swipe to see all screenshots of the claim.)
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
How did we find out the truth?: We looked for archives of Scindia's Twitter page on Wayback Machine and found several archives from the year 2015 to 2023.
While checking the archives, we noticed that his bio was same as his current bio from the month of July 2021, and had no mention of the BJP.
This archive is from 13 July 2021.
(Source: Wayback Machine/ Screenshot)
The archive of 21 May 2022 also had the same bio.
This archive is from 21 May 2022.
(Source: Wayback Machine/ Screenshot)
We also checked archives from February 2023 and found the same bio without BJP's mention in it.
This archive is from 13 February 2023.
(Source: Wayback Machine/ Screenshot)
The only thing that has changed in Scindia's bio is the addition of 'Office Account: @Officejmscindia' since May 2023.
Scindia's take on this claim: Scindia took to Twitter to dismiss this viral claim. He took a dig at the Congress party in MP and said that the party only 'spreads lies and propaganda'.
Scindia leaving Congress:
It should be noted that Scindia had resigned from the Congress in March 2020 and joined the BJP, leading to the fall of the Congress government in MP.
We also found that similar claims about Scindia leaving the BJP had been shared in 2020 and had been fact-checked by several news organisations.
Conclusion: Clearly, a false claim about Scindia removing 'BJP' from his Twitter bio is going viral.
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