Actor Jagadish’s decision to withdraw from contesting for the president’s post in the AMMA general body election had sparked widespread discussions.
Jagadish clarified that he decided to step back to allow the organisation to have a woman president. Following his withdrawal, actress Shwetha Menon emerged as the frontrunner for the post, with Jayan Cherthala, Anoop Chandran, and Devan also in the race.
However, director Santhivila Dinesh has now claimed that Jagadish withdrew from the election due to fear of defeat. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Dinesh claimed that when he asked 22 AMMA members about their preferred candidate, none of them supported Jagadish, saying they did not trust him.
Dinesh’s words
“Devan is also contesting for the president’s post, but Shwetha Menon is the only woman in the fray. When the competition intensified, Jagadish suddenly announced that if Mammootty and Mohanlal insisted, he would withdraw his nomination so a woman could become president. But none of the three leaders, including Mohanlal, responded, as Mohanlal had earlier said anyone could contest. Later, Jagadish announced that he is stepping back from the election.
Jagadish had earlier contested against Ganesh Kumar in Pathanapuram as a Congress candidate. It turned out to be an unnecessary move. Back then, the BJP’s candidate was Bheeman Raghu, who later left the party, and Jagadish also later quit Congress. Mohanlal even campaigned for Ganesh but did not mention Jagadish at all.
I believe Jagadish knew very well that he would face a heavy defeat if he contested for AMMA’s president post. He knew that everyone would join together to defeat him. When I asked 22 AMMA voters, all of them supported Shwetha Menon, and none mentioned Devan either. Some even said they didn’t trust Jagadish. He would speak softly about democracy, but he doesn’t practice it-that’s what AMMA members say about Jagadish. Perhaps he realised this first, which is why he stepped back gracefully,” said Santhivila Dinesh.