Mumbai, August 24 — Veteran actress and Cine and TV Artistes Association (CINTAA) president Poonam Dhillon has expressed deep hurt over the allegations levelled against her by the association’s former general secretary and actress Upasana Singh.
The actress has spoken on how she felt the need to put the “right version” of events before the public, and put an end to the on-going allegations and blames.
Speaking at a press conference held by CINTAA, Poonam said she was saddened by the manner in which the previous committee and its general secretary had spoken about CINTAA, stressing that the allegations had damaged the organisation’s reputation.
“I am very sad that the general secretary of the previous committee ruined CINTAA’s name. She defamed CINTAA. Such wrong things about CINTAA have never been said in our history. So, I am very sad about that,” Poonam said.
She further stressed that she wanted certain facts to be clarified so that people did not assume that the allegations being made against her represented the complete truth.
“We need to clear a few things. Because, until the right version reaches you, people will think that they are speaking the truth,” she added.
Poonam’s comments come amid an escalating dispute within CINTAA, with allegations and counter-allegations being exchanged between members of its executive committee.
The veteran actress has previously rejected accusations of unfair decision-making and authoritarian functioning, calling some of the allegations against her and senior vice-president Padmini Kolhapure“offensive”.
The controversy intensified earlier this month after 11 members of CINTAA’s 21-member Executive Committee resigned. Eight of those who stepped down were elected members, including Hemant Pandey, Mukesh Rishi, Sahila Chadha, Hetal Parmar, Puneet Issar, Vindu Dara Singh, Vikas Verma and Deepak Parashar.
The resigning members had cited a loss of confidence in the functioning of the association and called for fresh elections.
At the time, Upasana Singh, who was CINTAA’s general secretary, confirmed the resignations and said the members had submitted complaints alleging that Poonam Dhillon and Padmini Kolhapure had misused their positions.
The complaints also raised concerns about alleged unfair decision-making, lack of consultation with the Executive Committee and the manner in which official communications were handled, including finance.
The dispute later became more straight and attacked when Upasana accused Poonam and Padmini of running the association in an undemocratic manner.
She alleged that members who did not agree with the two veteran actresses or did not say “yes, madam” to them were issued show-cause notices. Upasana and former CINTAA treasurer Deepak Parashar also alleged that the leadership had become overly concentrated around Poonam and Padmini.