Kochi: Malayalam superstar Mohanlal was on Sunday unanimously elected the new President of the Association of Malayalam Movie Actors (AMMA), replacing Innocent, the hugely popular comedian and CPI-M backed Lok Sabha member from Chalakuddy, who was at the helm for the past 18 years.


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Unlike the past meetings of the AMMA, the media was kept away and the usual press meeting after the annual general body meeting was not held while members were strictly instructed to keep a distance from the media.


Mohanlal's election was a foregone conclusion as there was no other candidate when the last date of filing nominations closed early this month.


Edavela Babu is the new General Secretary while comedian and character artiste Jagdish was brought in as Treasurer.


Why the AMMA is upset with the media is could be media's handling of the now infamous actress kidnap case which took place in Kochi last year in which superstar Dileep is an accused and was in jail for 85 days, before he secured bail.


However in Sunday's meeting, the first annual general body meeting after Dileep's arrest, took a decision to revoke his suspension of Dileep, on the grounds that it was done by a hurriedly- called executive meeting which was against the by-laws of AMMA.


But Dileep was absent, so was upcoming superstar Prithviraj, who is part of a group in AMMA that opposed the supremacy of superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal.


This is the first time in several years that Mammootty is also not an office bearer and on Sunday, he politely turned down a request from outgoing President Innocent that he should come forward to become an office-bearer.