JTA — A photo surfaced of a leader in Germany’s far-right party appearing to display a Nazi salute, drawing scrutiny as the party seems poised to grasp unprecedented power in upcoming elections.

Martin Reichardt, a federal lawmaker and member of the Alternative for Germany party, raised his left arm as another man knelt on one knee before him in a photo from 2020. Politico’s Inside AfD podcast published the photo on Wednesday.

Two people who were at the gathering said the gesture was intended as a Nazi salute, according to Politico. The attendees also said the kneeling man, Markus Motschmann, was presenting Reichardt with an application to join the AfD and called him “Mein Führer.” Motschmann has denied using those words.

Reichardt told Politico that his gesture “wasn’t a Hitler salute,” but instead part of “a humorous knighting ceremony.” Reichardt did not respond to a request for comment from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Along with serving in Germany’s parliament, Reichardt chairs the state branch of the AfD in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD is forecast to surge in this eastern state, near Berlin, in September’s regional elections. Polls say the party could win an outright majority in Saxony-Anhalt, establishing Germany’s first far-right state government since World War II.

The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has presented an agenda that includes either deporting refugees or moving them into “group homes,” defunding public broadcasters who are deemed unpatriotic, banning gay pride flags in schools and overhauling German life toward large families and social conservatism.

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