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| - Fact Check: Viral claim about Dhoni joining BJP is false
A photo of Mahendra Singh Dhoni with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has gone viral on social media, with the claim that Dhoni has joined the BJP and may contest the polls.
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India Today Fact Check
Dhoni hasn’t joined the BJP and is currently playing in the IPL.
Political parties do rope in actors to get some extra mileage in elections. And, many celebrities have already made it to the list for the coming elections.
However, social media can't just stop guessing, and sometimes gets it wrong.
A photo of Mahendra Singh Dhoni with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has gone viral on social media, with the claim that Dhoni has joined the BJP and may contest the polls.
Facebook page 'Amit Shah Fans Team' uploaded the photo of Dhoni shaking hands with the BJP chief on Tuesday (April 2). Union minister Piyush Goyal is also present in the picture.
India Today Anti-Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found this claim to be false as Dhoni has not joined the BJP. The viral photo is from the meeting between Dhoni and Shah in 2018.
The English translation of the claim with the photograph says, "Mahendra Singh Dhoni has joined the BJP; he may contest the elections. Will you not welcome Mahi bhai?"
This post has been shared by nearly 900 Facebook users till the time of filing this story. 'Amit Shah Fans Team' has 1,44,178 followers.
AFWA did a reverse search of this photo and found that it is from August, 2018, when BJP leaders met prominent people from every field under the 'Sampark for Samarthan' programme. The meeting was held in Delhi. Website cricketaddictor.com had published a news article carrying the same viral picture.
For the past year, there has been speculations of Dhoni to campaign or even contest elections. We got in touch with people associated with Dhoni who have denied the claim.
"There is no truth to it. MS Dhoni is currently playing in the IPL and after that, there is World Cup coming up," Arun Pandey, Dhoni's long-time friend and manager, said.
Dhoni plays for IPL team Chennai Super Kings, which will be busy in its group stage matches till May 5. The 2019 IPL final will be held in Chennai on May 12. The elections are going to be held during the same time frame and the counting is slated for May 23.
Talking to India Today, Chennai Super Kings CEO Kashi Vishwanath said, "There has been absolutely no discussion he had with us on this front. I have no idea what his plans are. But what I know for sure is that he is not going to do this during CSK's matches in IPL."
On March 24, 'Amit Shah Fans Team' page uploaded a picture of West Indies star cricketer Chris Gayle, claiming that he was going to campaign for the BJP.
(With inputs from Rasesh Mandani in Mumbai)
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