Fake: Badal never sought support of Ram Rahim for Punjab polls

New Delhi, Feb 15: The social media is abuzz with a claim that the Shiromani Akali Dal sought the support of Ram Rahim.

A clipping of a newspaper in Punjabi has been shared and it says hailing Baba Ram Rahim as SAD's father. President Sukhbir Singh Badal has asked for his support for the assembly elections which will be held on February 20.

This image is morphed. Ram Rahim was granted a 21 day furlough recently. During that time, Badal had not made any statement on him. However while using a keyword search, we did come across a report which quoted Badal as telling the media that the furlough granted to Ram Rahim was termed as an election stunt by the BJP.

The viral clipping says that the statement was made by Badal before the media on February 11. However reports clearly show that on February 11, Badal was in Ferozepur for a campaign. Another aspect we found while looking at the image, there is no mention of which newspaper it was. Hence it is clear that this news is fake and the image is morphed.