3-cornered contest for MAA top post

With existing president Shivaji Raja and his panel staying in the fight, it would be a clash between three actors for the Telugu Movie Artistes’ president post. “Naresh, Shivaji Raja and O Kalyan are in the race for the numero uno position” says a source. While seasoned stars -Dr Rajasekhar and Srikanth- are set to compete for the executive vice-president post, while Hema is contesting as an Independent. 

Last year, MAA was in the news on allegations of misappropriation of funds post Chiru’s fund-raising programme in US which reportedly led to the cancellation of Mahesh Babu’s tour. “Mahesh dropped the plan to visit US after Naresh and Shivaji Raja hurled charges against each other,” the source adds. Now, Shivaji Raja will take on his rival Naresh in the upcoming elections. Chiranjeevi wished both the panels and asked them to contest, if unavoidable,” the source points out. However, it seems that Naresh is stepping into the fray with the support of Krishna’s family which includes Vijayanirmala, Mahesh Babu and others. “Actually, Chiru had to counter superstar Krishna in 80’s at the box-office. After a gap, now these two big families are reporteldy supporting rival groups in the upcoming elections to keep their rivarly alive and kicking. Nagababu supports Shivaji Raja and Srikanth, while Naresh has the support of his mother and other family members, so we can’t rule out the support of bigger names in this actors guild elections, because it is difficult to forget old rivalry for star families, although they are not coming out in open,” says producer N Padmini,  who feels that the outcome of the elections depends on the voting of 800-odd members out of which 400-odd members live in Krishna Nagar.   “Nominations of Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao and  Geetha Singh were rejected for technical reasons, but the election fever is surely heating up. Like Rajendraprasad, Shivaji  should have stayed out after one term. But he joined the fray and messed up the election scene, causing bad name to artistes union,” rues Radha Rajeswari.