Tollywood has always been supportive to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and his government and Telugu superstars from Chiranjeevi to Prabhas and Mahesh Babu to Allu Arjun and others have always extended support in crores of rupees for flood relief measures. “Telugu film fraternity also welcomed the revival of Gadar Awards by this government which formed a 16 member committee to frame guidelines and honour Telugu talent,” says Kona Venkat, who admits that superstars and industry bigwigs lashed out at Congress Minister Konda Surekha after her allegations. “Tollywood came out in unison and condemned her remarks since they were baseless and false. Those remarks dented the pride and respect of Telugu film fraternity. We also questioned her for dragging Tollywood names into her war of words with ex Minister KTR and BRS,’ he admits.However, we have nothing against Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and his government. “In fact, I belong to Congress family and my grandfather Kona Prabhakar Rao served as Congress party president in united AP and also won as MLA four times from Bapatla Assembly Constituency for his good work. He also served as governor in three states including Maharashtra. He was very close to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who trusted him for his values. Despite being a Congressman, I was forced to condemn remarks of another Congress leader and Minister Konda Surekha and I felt a bit uneasy. Yet, it was unavoidable since I belong to Tollywood and I can’t spare anyone who damages our hard-earned reputation. Even CM Revanth Reddy garu is a friend of mine yet I had to come out and condemn,” he points out.On police permission denied to a big film in Hyderabad, he says, “Really, I don’t know. Probably, few officials are under the misconception that Tollywood is against the Congress government which is untrue and wrong. I wish police and other officials should understand that Tollywood is close to the Congress government barring a skirmish with Surekha garu and it would smooth-sailing forever,” he concludes.
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