Within two days of being appointed as the Telangana tourism brand ambassador, YouTuber Alekhya Harika has announced that she has stepped down from the post. Harika, who was a contestant on the fourth season of Bigg Boss Telugu, was appointed as the tourism ambassador by Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) Chairman Uppala Srinivas Gupta on the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8.
“A quick update. On Women's day, I was chosen as TSTDC brand ambassador. Due to a few reasons, I am not continuing that. I am dropping off from that post Thanks to everyone who supported me. Hereafter, I am going to concentrate on my series etc.” Harika said in a video statement that she put out on social media.
Here is the update .As you all know, Was appointed for Promoting and Marketing the Tourism dept hotels and properties earlier,but then will not be continuing it further due to several other reasons .And thanks to all my well-wishers,and sorry for all the disappointment,love u all pic.twitter.com/SzLAaIPxwR
— Alekhya Harika (@harika_alekhya) March 10, 2021
Soon after TSTDC chairman Srinivas Gupta appointed her to the post, confusion arose as state Tourism Minister Srinivas Goud told the media that he did not even know who Harika was. “Such appointments are made by the government, based on suggestions from the Chief Minister. I don’t know who made the appointment, I don’t know who she (Harika) is. If we do appoint a (tourism) ambassador, it will be someone of a bigger stature, like Amitabh Bachchan for Gujarat,” the Minister said.
However, in defence of the appointment, the TSTDC chairman said that Harika, who hails from Telangana’s Karimnagar district, has a huge following on social media at a young age. “We don’t have a budget of crores to hire big actors like Mahesh Babu. We would have had to pay her (Harika) on a day-to-day basis and it would have been affordable to hire her on a low budget,” Srinivas Gupta told the media.
Harika has one million followers on Instagram and her YouTube channel Dhethadi has 1.67 million subscribers. One of the reasons Harika has garnered a big number of followers on social media is for speaking in the Telangana dialect. Harika entered the Bigg Boss house from the fame that she attained through her YouTube channel, which is backed by Tamada Media. She was one of the top five contestants in the latest season of Bigg Boss Telugu.