Legislator-turned-actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, whose comments about women at a recent audio launch function of the film ‘Savithri’ raked up a controversy, spent a few minutes speaking about the incident while in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday.
Expressing his apology on the controversy relating to his comments on women at an audio launch funciton, he recalled in the House that the party had already sent out a written apology on his name to media houses on Monday evening itself.
He started his short speech by congratulating women of the globe and recalled the several initiatives that his father, the legendary NTR had taken towards women’s empowerment, protection of the girl child and his efforts towards taking forward the proposal of 33 per cent reservation. Several of my films have those embedded in the storyline and have also reflected the enormous respect that I have for women. "If anyone was hurt," he said he was 'sorry' about it.
“But I must tell you that at the audio function I had to speak as two individuals, as a man with two professions and responsibilities. I had to keep in mind that I was now a Member of the Legislative Assembly and spoke of women’s empowerment. Then, I had also to keep the adoration and adulation of my fans and speak the way they would like me to speak,” he said, adding a line more about how he was misunderstood by the media.
The MLA urged the Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao to have an independent survey conducted outside the House, with women from a cross-section of society to establish the fact that he indeed had loads of respect for women. Earlier, Mr. Balakrishna appeared to have put in a request to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu expressing his wish to clarify things in the House.
A while later, when Mr. Naidu left the House to attend to some work in his Chamber, Mr. Balakrishna raised his hand to indicate to the Speaker that he wished to speak and went on after getting access to the microphone.
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