MS Dhoni joining BJP and contesting elections? No, says anti-fake news search

It’s both a season of cricket and elections and an amalgamation of the two is always an exciting affair. The politicians are well aware of the appeal that cricketers have and do not hesitate from roping them in for canvassing. This also creates an opportunity for fake news to do the rounds and as per reports. One such story involving former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and BJP president Amit Shah has surfaced with the claim that the former is joining the saffron party and contesting the Lok Sabha polls starting April 11.

On Tuesday, Facebook page ‘Amit Shah Fans Team’ uploaded a photo of the cricketer shaking hands with the top BJP leader along with Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal was also present. According to India Today, its Anti-Fake News War Room (AFWA) found the claim to be false as the wicketkeeper-batsman has not joined the BJP and the viral photo of the duo was taken in 2018.

The claim accompanying the picture was translated into English that said: “Mahendra Singh Dhoni has joined the BJP; he may contest the elections. Will you not welcome Mahi bhai?” The post has already been shared by nearly 900 Facebook users when the story came out. This post has been shared by nearly 900 Facebook users till the time of filing this story. The FB page has over 1.44 lakh followers.

The India Today report claimed that AFWA conducted research and found that it was from August last year when leaders of the BJP met prominent people under the ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ programme. Speculation is on for some time now that Dhoni is going to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but it was found to be baseless. “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, was quoted as saying.

IPL will continue till May 12; elections till May 19

Dhoni’s team Chennai Super Kings are currently playing the IPL which will be concluded on May 12. The elections will take place between April 11 and May 19 and the results will be out on May 23. Chennai Super Kings CEO Kashi Vishwanath was also quoted as saying: “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.”

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