(Editor's Note: The story was first published on 21 September and is being reshaped from The Quint's archive in light of the image being passed off as 'first visuals' of Amarinder Singh's meeting with Amit Shah on 29 September. Archive here.)
A photo of Home Minister Amit Shah shaking hands with Congress leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is being circulated on social media in the backdrop of Singh's resignation as the chief minister of Punjab to claim that the duo met after the political developments over the weekend.
However, we found the photo is from 2019, when Singh had met the home minister in New Delhi on 27 June 2019 to discuss issues relating to the state of Punjab.
CLAIM
The photo is being shared on social media with the claim in Hindi that reads: "पंजाब के सीएम और कांग्रेस नेता कैप्टन अमरिंदर सिंह अमित शाह के साथ बीजेपी में शामिल होने के लिए बातचीत कर रहे हैं।"
(Translation: (Former) Punjab CM and Congress leader Amarinder Singh met Amit Shah and talked about joining the BJP.)
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
Another archived link of the post can be found here.
WHAT WE FOUND
We conducted a Google reverse image search and found the photo in a tweet on the official Twitter account of Singh posted on 27 June 2019.
We also looked for news reports of the meeting and The Tribune reported that Singh had met Shah to discuss the challenges relating to the state, particularly the Kartarpur corridor project. He had also urged the home minister to draft a National Drug Policy to tackle Punjab’s drug menace.
Further, we also looked into if the duo had recently met following Singh's resignation, and found no reports of it.
AMARINDER SINGH RESIGNS AS PUNJAB CM
After the dramatic resignation of CM Captain Amarinder Singh on 18 September, just four months before the state goes on polls, Charanjit Singh Channi, Punjab's first Dalit Sikh leader, took oath as the new CM on Monday, 20 September.
In an interview with India Today, Singh said that he is still a part of the Congress part but has "kept his options open". Although political analysts do opine that joining the BJP could be an option before Singh but no such development has taken place yet.
Clearly, an old photo is being circulated on social media with the false claim that the former CM met Amit Shah.
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