Ahead of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls, a picture of union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani along with AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi is being shared on social media with a claim that the two met secretly to discuss a probable alliance.
“The thieves who fell out. Smriti Irani, who came to Hyderabad for the next BJP election campaign met MIM President Owaisi in secret. Deception deception deception,” the post read. (Loose transition via Google)

Here’s the link to the above post.

Here’s the link to the above post.

FACT CHECK 

NewsMobile fact-checked the post and found it to be misleading.
We cropped the picture and put it through Reverse Image Search, which led us to the same image uploaded on Facebook in February 2017.

Upon searching further, we found that Owaisi in 2016, had replied to a tweet featuring the same image.
“Your old party MPs didn’t attend power looms meeting &UP is on your mind not realising that Weavers in UP r suffering,” he said after being accused of ‘roaming’ around with a BJP leader while he continues to criticise them.

In the tweet, Owaisi mentioned the powerlooms meeting. So, based on that, we ran a keyword search and found a report by Patrika dated August 2016 about powerloom industry stakeholders meeting where union minister of textiles Smriti Irani was present along with several other MPs including Asaduddin Owaisi.

We then also found a tweet by Owaisi from August 22, 2016, which read, “In a Stake Holders Meetings PowerLoom Industry called by @smritiirani it is a first such meeting ever called by a MIN t solve PLoom problems.”

In a Stake Holders Meetings PowerLoom Industry called by @smritiirani it is a first such meeting ever called by a MIN t solve PLoom problems

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) August 22, 2016

 Moreover, pictures of the same meeting were also shared by Owaisi on his Twitter account.

2 crores people get employment through 50 lakh powerlooms country which is in dire straits needs review AntiDumping pic.twitter.com/p84Mv5DV28

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) August 22, 2016

On November 23, 2020, NewsMobile debunked a similar post which claimed that BJP and AIMIM have formed an alliance.

Fact Check: Have BJP and AIMIM joined hands for upcoming WB Assembly polls? Here’s the truth

Hence, from the above fact check, it is clear that the picture is old and the post is false and misleading.

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