AMMA row: Shwetha Menon says ‘will go to any extent’ to ensure ‘power group’ does not lead association

Actor Shwetha Menon, who retracted her earlier decision to step down as president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), has said she will “go to any extent” to make sure that those named in the Hema Committee report will not lead the actors’ body.

In a social media post on Tuesday, she stated that her fight is against the ‘power group’ named in the Hema Committee report [on the problems faced by women in Malayalam cinema]. She alleged that the group “humiliated” her and tried to expel her from the annual general body meeting of the association held in Kochi on June 21.

She alleged that some in the power group had raised personal allegations against her after she had questioned them about their financial wrongdoings linked to the association.

On the allegation that she had received commission to provide candidates for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2026 Kerala Assembly election, Ms. Menon said she has “not understood the logic” behind the allegation that a national party that has been in power for the last 12 years will require her support to get candidates. She said she “has no reason” to hide her political affiliation, if any, as the association’s executive committee has members with political leanings across various parties, including the Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and BJP.

She said the ‘corruption allegations’, which she claimed had been acknowledged by actor and MLA Ramesh Pisharody, have not received the attention it needed in view of the ongoing controversies.

The rival factions in the association are engaged in a legal battle after the Ernakulam Munsiff court issued a stay on the functioning of the ad-hoc committee formed at the general body meeting of the actors’ body on June 21 based on a petition filed by Ms. Menon. She had claimed that the ad-hoc committee was formed in violation of the laws of the association.

Mr. Pisharody, who was the convener of the ad-hoc committee, had stepped down following the court order. He had informed the court that Ms. Menon could not continue exercising her powers as she had publicly declared at the general body meeting that she and the entire executive committee stood resigned. The ad-hoc committee was formed with the concurrence of the general body, which is the apex policy-making body in the association, he said.