MAA election 2021: The bitter feud

A bizarre video was widely shared about on Sunday, one that showed actor Hema biting the arm of actor Siva Balaji. Social media has since been rife with memes about this incident, perhaps the culmination of a long list of unsavoury exchanges between rival factions that contested the MAA (Movie Artists’ Association) elections that were held on Sunday. The elections, held once every two years, have been the source of much bitterness this year, even as the factions, one led by Prakash Raj and the other led by Vishnu Manchu, have often grabbed newspaper headlines with their statements and incendiary speeches directed at each other. All the tension in the air over the past weeks can be said to be straight from a typical Tollywood political drama.

Earlier, Hema had lodged a police complaint against VK Naresh and Karate Kalyani, who contested for the post of joint secretary from Vishnu Manchu's panel, for allegedly maligning her image on social media. In her complaint, Hema stated that she saw a video of the duo making comments that she felt amounted to character assassination.

All the drama began when actor Vishnu Manchu announced in June that he would contest against Prakash Raj for the coveted post of president and the head of the 900-member artistes’ body. While the former won the support of actors like Krishna, Krishnam Raju, and Balakrishna Nandamuri, the latter is reportedly backed by the Chiranjeevi family.

Vishnu began his campaign by projecting himself as a ‘son of the soil’ and sought to distinguish himself as a local, the insinuation being that Prakash Raj, who hails from Karnataka, is an ‘outsider’. The actor further alleged that Prakash Raj was non-accessible and was often at the ‘centre of controversies’. The forthcoming weeks saw this insider-outsider debate taking centre-stage as even senior actors like Kota Srinivasa Rao stepped in to question Prakash Raj’s candidature. This line of criticism drew the ire of actor-producer Naga Babu, who observed that it was unfortunate that Prakash Raj, a household name in Telugu cinema who has won many awards for his work, was still being maligned as an ‘outsider’.

Prakash Raj bit back by accusing Vishnu Manchu of using his financial clout to gain absolute majority through postal ballot. He alleged that the election code had been violated and shared a few documents that seemed to show an unidentified person paying postal ballot expenses to the tune of Rs. 28,000 on behalf of 56 elderly voters including Krishna, Krishnam Raju and Sharath Babu. Vishnu then proceeded to counter each point raised by Prakash Raj and went on to accuse the latter of shedding ‘crocodile tears’ and creating a toxic environment. He then urged the election committee of MAA to revert to paper ballots in order to conduct a fair election, claiming that EVMs were not reliable.

There was a suggestion that Vishnu’s connection with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister could play a role in the elections, an insinuation categorically rejected by the Andhra Pradesh Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani).

With the back-and-forth accusations defining the MAA elections campaigning over the past month, some members of the association attempted to cool frayed tempers. Actor Murali Mohan, a six-time president of MAA, made futile attempts to unite both parties and conduct a unified election.

A key point of debate was the construction of an independent building for MAA. While Vishnu offered to construct the building with his own money, Prakash Raj announced that he would be requesting land from the Telangana government to build a new office.

With the election results announced late on Sunday night, hopefully, the Telugu film industry can now move past the ugly events of the past month, and function as a content, united body.