Hyderabad, Sept. 14: Megastar Chiranjeevi suffered the second blow when his panel lost the elections to the Movie Artiste Association (MAA). It is an open secret that of the two panels, one belonged to the Telugu Desam and was led by actor Murali Mohan while the other was backed by the Praja Rajyam leadership.
Murali Mohan was elected president of MAA over Vijaychander of the Chiranjeevi panel, unseating Chiranjeevi’s actor brother Nagender Babu. Out of the 400-odd votes cast, Murali Mohan got 244 and Vijay Chand, 116 votes. Ahuti Prasad from the Murali Mohan panel was elected general secretary with 240 votes, defeating Ayyappa P. Sharma of the Chiranjeevi panel.
Actors Srihari and Srikanth were elected as vice-presidents and Kota Srinivasa Rao as treasurer. Much to the embarrassment of Chiranjeevi, his panel did not even make it to the executive. Chiranjeevi’s producer brother-in-law Allu Aravind had recently lost the elections for the post of president of the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce to K.S. Rama Rao. Analysts interpret these developments as the result of a tug-of-war for supremacy between two castes. Industry sources said, Chiranjeevi’s rivals had grouped together to overcome his domination.
There was much excitement at the MAA office in Jubilee Hills on Sunday where silver screen stars gathered to vote in the elections. Chiranjeevi cast his vote early in the morning. Later Tollywood matinee idols Balakrishna, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh and Junior NTR turned up, much to the delight of fans.
