On Wednesday (19th May), Tamil Newspaper Dinakaran, owned by the Sun Group of the DMK family, had published an article in which it said that a supporter of BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan had put out a photo in Facebook wielding a gun and that the police are investigating it.
It said that the woman an ardent supporter of Vanathi Srinivasan, the BJP MLA from Coimbatore South, had posted a photo wielding a gun with her husband on the occasion of his birthday. It also went on to cast aspersion by raising questions like whether the woman had license to hold a gun and whether the photo was posted to threaten someone.
After her images along with the news item started circulating in social media, the concerned woman clarified in her Facebook post stating that she had posed with a ‘balloon shooting’ gun which is used in beaches and fun fairs and that the photo was take two years ago.
Following this, BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan put out a tweet condemning the fake news and for trying to malign her name.
பலூன் சுடும் துப்பாக்கியை குழந்தைகளுடன் விளையாடிக் கொண்டு எடுத்த புகைப்படத்தை தவறாக செய்திகளை பதிவிட்ட எனது ஆதரவாளர் என தவறாக சித்தரித்து வருகிறார்கள் pic.twitter.com/sB6gEQV7Cn
— Vanathi Srinivasan (@VanathiBJP) May 19, 2021
Speaking to The Commune, Vanathi Srinivasan said “It seems like their only intention is to malign my name some way or the other. They are so intolerant that they cannot even do basic fact checking before posting such news. This is highly condemnable.”
Just a few days before, The News Minute, a Bengaluru-based media outlet had selectively targeted the Coimbatore South MLA for launching steam inhalation drive in the city while the DMK Ministers KN Nehru and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi had themselves inspect steam inhalation facility at Trichy.
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