Rift in Tollywood's MAA as actors Naresh and Jeevitha Rajasekhar publicly spar

A rift has opened up in Tollywood's Movie Artistes Association (MAA) as a meeting was held at the Telugu Film Chamber Office in Hyderabad on October 20. The meeting is reported to have witnessed ugly scenes as arguments broke out, with some members, including actors Prudhvi and Paruchuri Gopala Krishna walking out. Actor Prudhvi told reporters that some members at the meeting had behaved in an 'unruly' manner, adding, "I urge Chiranjeevi garu (the founder President of MAA) to dissolve the present association and conduct a fresh election.”   At the centre of the conflict is actor-producer Naresh, who was elected as MAA President earlier this year, and was conspicuously absent from the meeting. On the other side are actors Rajasekhar, the Vice-President, and his wife Jeevitha, who is the General Secretary of MAA. The group led by Jeevitha and Rajasekhar is reportedly upset and alleges that no proper work was being done by MAA in the last few months after the election results were announced in March. They also accused Naresh of running the association unilaterally.  Naresh responds  Putting out a video, Naresh said that there was a 'history' behind his decision to skip the meeting. "MAA holds a General Body Meeting once every year. Never in the past 25 years have they held an emergency GBM. I received a letter intimating me of an emergency GBM a few days ago, when I was out for a shoot. But, only I have the authority to call for the meeting as President," he said."Why was the meeting being called for and is it necessary? Later, they told me it was a 'friendly' meeting. There is no need for me to attend that, so I set up an appointment for my film on that date. Again, a circular came that it was a GBM, and it claimed that Naresh was hindering the process. Why will I hinder a meeting of the association that I head? There is no need for me (to do so)," he added.  Naresh stated that there was a lot of confusion but the meeting went ahead. Despite this, he stated that the opposing faction spoke to the media and even brought up the subject of changing the bye-laws of the association. "As elected representatives of MAA, we must work together. That is what I wish to say. The association has a high reputation in the film industry and we have a responsibility to uphold it. We should not think about us as individuals but as an organisation," Naresh said. Spat escalates In a response to Naresh, Jeevitha Rajasekhar put out her own video, where she said that she wanted to clarify what really happened and dispel media speculation."There was a difference of opinion within the association. There were a lot of reasons for this, which I may elaborate later. All I can say, is that there were arguments and people got emotional. However, it was a useful meeting given the present state of MAA," she claimed. "At the end of the meeting, most attendees agreed unanimously that there was a need to call for an Extraordinary General Body Meeting immediately," she added. However, after Naresh released his video, the spat escalated. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening, Jeevitha alleged that Naresh had slapped all of them with a Rs 10 crore defamation notice."There are so many issues which are to be discussed. Since some of us held a meeting on October 10, they (the rival group) even moved court to get a stay on the resolutions that we passed. What is the need to go to court when we are willing to talk?" she asked. Actor Hema who was present along with Jeevitha also claimed that they were forced to speak to the media as a last resort, as they were left with no other choice.  With the spat taking a serious turn, it now remains to be seen how the incident will play out. MAA was in the news extensively last year, after Telugu actor Sri Reddy's allegations of sexual exploitation in Tollywood. Sri Reddy had resorted to a strip protest against 'casting couch'– a euphemism for sexual harassment, in the Telugu film industry, in front of the office of Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce in April. MAA had not only dismissed her allegations but also declared that she was banned from its membership. The ban was only lifted after a notice by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).  Read:  Actor Naresh wins Tollywood's MAA election, defeats Shivaji Raja MAA elections: Tollywood ignores sexual harassment again, finds no place in manifestos