VIJAYAWADA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kamineni Srinivas on Saturday withdrew his remarks made on the floor of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
After the Question Hour and prior to the commencement of the Zero Hour in the Assembly, on the last day of the Monsoon Session, Kamineni requested Deputy Speaker R Raghurama Krishna Raju to remove his comments made in the House on Thursday from the Assembly records.
Observing that his remarks had led to a misunderstanding, Kamineni appealed to the Chair to expunge them. The Deputy Speaker, who was presiding over the House, said that the appeal would be placed before the Speaker for a final decision.
On Thursday, Kamineni recalled a meeting between the film fraternity and former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy during the YSRCP regime, saying that Jagan was initially reluctant to meet the industry representatives and agreed to the interaction only after film star Chiranjeevi intervened.
Responding to Kamineni’s comments, Hindupur MLA and film actor Nandamuri Balakrishna stated that the BJP legislator’s version was wrong and insisted that no one had forced Jagan to hold the meeting. His remarks triggered a sharp response from Chiranjeevi, escalating the row.
Balakrishna remarked that he too had received an invitation to the meeting with Jagan, whom he described as a ‘psycho’, but chose not to attend.
Taking serious note of Balakrishna’s assertion that no one had played a role in arranging the meeting, Chiranjeevi issued a statement clarifying that he had taken the initiative to meet the then Chief Minister after producers and actors had approached him seeking a hike in ticket rates and resolution of other industry-related issues.
The controversy snowballed to the extent that CM Naidu reportedly expressed his displeasure during an interaction with TDP MLAs. Sources said Kamineni withdrew comments to prevent further escalation.