Vishnu Manchu's meeting with AP CM raises eyebrows

Hyderabad, Feb 17 Actor and Movie Artists Association (MAA) president Manchu Vishnu, who had recently met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, has finally spoken up on their interactions on the issues being raised by the Tollywood film fraternity.

"I share a great rapport with Jagan Anna (brother). He is my wife Vinni's closest cousin. I can meet him anytime, so I don't know why this meeting has made it to the headlines," Manchu Vishnu said.

The cold war between him and Chiranjeevi, his MAA rival, came to the forefront when the latter led a Tollywood delegation to meet the chief minister not long ago. Vishnu was upset that his father, the senior actor Mohan Babu, was not given a proper invitation for the meeting.

Chiranjeevi was accompanied by Prabhas, Mahesh Babu, S.S, Rajamouli, and others during the meeting with the chief minister on the issues agitating the industry. The Manchus were obviously upset because, despite his seniority in the industry, Mohan Babu wasn't invited to the meeting.

Vishnu met the chief minister days after Chiranjeevi's meeting, which led to renewed talk about the rivalry between the two.

The opposing camp has been pointing out that although Vishnu was elected MAA president in a contentious vote some months back, he had not taken any stand on the ticket pricing issue, which has been agitating Tollywood for quite a long time. Vishnu's meeting with the chief minister has therefore assumed significance in the eyes of MAA watchers.