Senior actors tell MAA president Naresh to \'leave gracefully\'

The differences within the Movie Artistes Association (MAA) have come to a head, with a disciplinary committee comprising senior actor Krishnam Raju, Chiranjeevi, Murali Mohan and Jayasudha on Wednesday asking the current president V.K. Naresh to go on 41 days leave.

They have asked the present vice-president, Banerjee, to assume charge as president.

A source in the Association says it looks like a foregone conclusion that in the general body meeting coming up in April, Banerjee will be formally elected president, and then it will be business as usual for the MAA.

Since the last association elections, the MAA has been split into two factions, one headed by Naresh and the other by Jeevitha. Naresh reportedly has only a few supporters, while most of the executive committee members back Jeevitha.

According to the source, some members of the executive committee had submitted a memorandum to the disciplinary committee, complaining about Naresh. When the committee visited the MAA premises, it was found that no work was being done, and even the executive meetings hadn’t taken place for the past few months.

The committee therefore asked Naresh to ‘leave gracefully’, saying that if he didn’t do so, he would have to be removed from the post. Naresh had agreed to take leave, the source added.

A few days ago, Rajasekhar had resigned as executive vice-president after the disciplinary committee decided to take action.