Photo Does Not Show Mallikarjun Kharge Carrying Rajiv Gandhi’s Suitcase
BOOM found that the man seen with Rajiv and Rahul Gandhi in the photograph is Siddharth Reddy, who was among Rajiv Gandhi’s close friends.
A photo of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, with a man carrying a suitcase is viral on social media, with posts falsely identifying the man as Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Several right-wing handles shared the photograph on August 20, 2026, Rajiv Gandhi’s 82nd birth anniversary, targeting the Congress by portraying Mallikarjun Kharge as a staff member of the Gandhi family and questioning how a person who later became Congress president was allegedly treated in the past.
However, BOOM found that the man in the photograph is Siddharth Reddy, a close associate of Rajiv Gandhi from Andhra Pradesh, who also served as his strategist during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Minister.
The Claim: The man carrying Rajiv Gandhi’s suitcase is Congress President Kharge
BJP leader Suresh Nakhua shared an old picture of Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi walking on an airstrip after getting off a plane. A man in the photograph carrying two briefcases was circled in red, with the caption, “Identify who!”
Several users in the comments identified him as Mallikarjun Kharge and criticised the Congress leader and the Gandhi family.
Click here for the post and here for the archive.
Some users directly identified the man in the photograph as Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. See here and here.
What We Found: The Man In The Photo Was Rajiv Gandhi’s Close Associate, Siddharth Reddy
1. Photo Shows Siddharth Reddy, Not Kharge: BOOM found a post by an X user who reshared the viral post and identified the man in the photograph as Siddharth Reddy, describing him as a close associate of Rajiv Gandhi.
A search using relevant keywords led us to the cover story of the September 9, 1983, edition of India Today magazine, which focused on Rajiv Gandhi’s associates. The story carried a photograph of Siddharth Reddy along with information about him. He was an industrial engineer who was handling matters related to Rajiv Gandhi’s constituency, Amethi, in Uttar Pradesh, at the time. Reddy, a former worker of the Andhra Pradesh Youth Congress (I), was brought into Rajiv Gandhi’s team in 1981.
A comparison of Siddharth Reddy’s photograph published in the story with the man seen in the viral photograph showed considerable similarities in facial structure and features.
Further research about Siddharth Reddy led us to an article published by TV9 Telugu on June 11, 2021, which mentioned his death. The article stated that he joined the BJP after Rajiv Gandhi’s death and was part of its National Executive team. It also included other photographs of him with Rajiv Gandhi.
2. Congress, BJP Leaders Identify Man As Siddharth Reddy: Taking a cue, we reached out to Pranav Jha, the Congress president’s communications in-charge, who refuted the viral claim and said, “This is Siddharth Reddy, a friend of Rajiv Gandhi. His wife, Taradevi, was a Member of Parliament from Karnataka.” Former Amethi MP and BJP leader Sanjay Singh, who was once close to the Gandhi family, also identified the man seen carrying two suitcases in the photograph as Siddharth Reddy.
For further details, we contacted senior journalist and The Sunday Guardian’s Managing Editor Pankaj Vohra, who confirmed that the man in the photograph is not Mallikarjun Kharge. He said, “The man appears to be Siddharth Reddy, who was very close to Rajiv Gandhi. He was from Andhra Pradesh and ran a website called PoliticsParty.com.”
Vohra further added, “He later served as his strategist after Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister. His wife, Taradevi, was an MP from Chikmagalur in Karnataka. However, he later joined the BJP.”
3. Kharge Looked Different From Man In Viral Photo: We also found an X post by Mallikarjun Kharge from May 21, 2021, on Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary, in which he shared a photograph with the former Prime Minister. We found that Kharge’s face in the photograph was completely different from the man seen in the viral image.
BOOM was unable to independently ascertain the location and date of the photograph.
