‘Will not step down without proving innocence, don’t try to hijack AMMA’, says Shwetha Menon

KOCHI: Shwetha Menon, the president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), has for the first time reacted on the controversies that broke out after the general body meeting convened on June 21. In a Facebook post, she said that she remained silent all this time, hoping the internal disputes within the organisation would come to an end. However, she said she has now decided to speak out because she has begun to be targeted in a campaign aimed at tarnishing her dignity. She is now firm in the stand that she will not step down again without proving her innocence.

Meantime, Shweta's response came after ad hoc committee convener and MLA Ramesh Pisharody and K B Ganesh Kumar alleged that Shwetha Menon and other executive members have not yet submitted their official resignations, which is causing a crisis in the organization.

Her response

'I remained silent all these days for AMMA. I thought that if remained silent, the controversies surrounding AMMA would end. But in a situation where my personal credibility is continuously being attacked and my name is being tarnished, I will not back down without proving my innocence. Now some people are saying that I have cheated the people and orphaned AMMA. No. I have not cheated anyone. I have not orphaned AMMA.

Some (10 to 15 members to be exact) came for the general body meeting of AMMA held on June 21, 2026 with a pre-prepared agenda that our executive committee should resign. They prepared a pre-printed resolution containing several baseless allegations against the executive committee and distributed it to the members. We had factual and legally clear replies to each of those allegations.

Although that resolution was handed over to me, it was not passed as per AMMA By-law Article XII(e). That resolution has no legal validity as it did not get the support of 162 of the 243 members present at the meeting that day, which is the required two-thirds majority.

Today they claim that the ad hoc committee was formed as per the decision of the general body. I have to ask them this. Where is there a system called ad hoc committee in AMMA’s by-laws? How did a committee that is not in the by-laws come into existence? The by-laws very clearly state that if a committee officially resigns, the old committee that was elected should continue until a new committee is formed.

This was the stand taken when Lalettan’s committee resigned. Then why is this not the case for our committee and the governing body? How can some vested interests impose a different law on us? According to the by-laws of ‘AMMA’, only one committee can exist here, and that is our committee. This committee should continue till the next election is held (as decided by the general body) and a new committee is formed.

Therefore, if anyone else comes forward claiming to be ad hoc committee, it is illegal and they are clearly misleading the members of 'AMMA'. 'AMMA' is a charity organization. There are many people who get help through this. Since the annual general body meeting, there has been no lapse in any of the activities of AMMA. We have delivered the Kaineettam given to the members on July 1st. We are doing all these things correctly, including Sanjeevini and medical insurance.

Some vested interests are trying to hijack the organization by misguiding the members of AMMA by taking advantage of my silence. Therefore, I will not allow anyone to hijack AMMA.

Shwetha Menon

President, AMMA