A photo, showing former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi walking with a young Rahul Gandhi is being widely shared on social media. In the photo, the Gandhis are flanked by people carrying bags on both sides.The claim: Those sharing this image have claimed that the man carrying two bags, seen on the left side of the image, is current Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.An archived version of this post can be seen here.(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.)Is it true?: No, the image does not show Kharge.The man was identified as Siddharth Reddy, Rajiv Gandhi's close aide, and not Kharge.Old Video of Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan Leaving a Hospital Shared as RecentHow did we find out the truth?: While browsing social media for more claims, we came across an X post quoting a claim, which identified the man as one Siddharth Reddy.I am amazed at the level of ignorance in the replies to this post. And it is evident that you don’t have any idea about who the person is .It is not Mallikarjun Kharge. The person in the picture is Siddhartha Reddy—who was an OSD to Rajiv Gandhi when he was the party's general… https://t.co/pT7rWuNZFR— srinivasan (@srinizap) August 20, 2026Taking a cue from this, we looked for more photos of Reddy. This led us to an India Today article which was first published as a cover story of its magazine's September 1983 issue, titled 'Rajiv Gandhi and his men'. The article identified him as the person "in charge of the affairs in Amethi," which was Gandhi's constituency in Uttar Pradesh, adding that Reddy was formerly an activist of the Youth Congress in Andhra Pradesh.The report identified Reddy as Gandhi's aide.A keyword search for more information about Reddy led us to an NTV Telugu report on YouTube, which was published in 2021 after Reddy passed away.It carried several images of Gandhi and Reddy together, showing the same man seen in the viral claim.We then looked for visuals of Kharge with Gandhi, which led us to an X post on Kharge's official account.He shared a post in 2021, which showed him with Gandhi with the hashtag 'Remembering Rajiv Gandhi'.While Sri Rajiv ji was laying foundation for India as technology hub for the world,Sri Gundurao ensured K’taka played a key role in India’s global ambition by helping Texas Instruments set up its office in Bengaluru, marking the beginning of the tech hub. #RememberingRajivGandhi pic.twitter.com/afCReiyBee— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) May 21, 2021On comparing the two, one can clearly see that the person in the viral claim is not Kharge.Conclusion: An old photo showing Rajiv and Rahul Gandhi with Siddharth Reddy is being shared on social media, where users have misidentified the latter as Mallikarjun Kharge.WebQoof Recap: Of Misinformation Surrounding PM Modi, Donald Trump and More(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)