Telangana Min Withdraws Remark Linking Samantha-Naga Chaitanya Split To KTR

Hyderabad: Telangana Minister for Forests and Environment, Konda Surekha, withdrew her remarks about actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s divorce from Naga Chaitanya that drew flak from various film personalities and others lashed out at the Congress leader. The minister had alleged that Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao played a role in the break-up.

After Samantha reacted strongly to the minister’s remarks, Surekha wrote on ‘X’ that her comments were not intended to hurt the actor’s sentiments. She claimed that she had made the remark to question a leader’s belittling of women.

In her post, the minister wrote that she admires the way Samantha has come up in life with self-power. “If you (Samantha) or your fans are offended by my comments, I unconditionally retract my comments,” the minister wrote.

The minister’s previous comment had triggered an uproar. Rama Rao had served her a legal notice, asking her to apologise or face legal action. Naga Chaitanya, his father and actor Nagarjuna, had also slammed the minister.

Many from the film fraternity lashed out at the minister for raising names of movie stars for targeting  her political rivals. Samantha had clarified that her divorce was based on mutual consent and was settled amicably. She had also urged the minister to not ‘trivialise her journey’ and respect the privacy of others.

“It takes a lot of courage and strength. Konda Surekha Garu, I am proud of what this journey turned me into – please don’t trivialise it. I hope you realise that your words carry significant weight as a minister. I implore you to be responsible and respectful of individual’s privacy,” the actor wrote on X.

“My divorce is a personal matter, and I request that you refrain from speculating about it. Our choice to keep things private doesn’t invite misrepresentation. To clarify: my divorce was mutual consent and amicable, with no political conspiracy involved. Could you please keep me out of political battles? I have always remained non-political and wish to continue doing so,” she added.

Naga Chaitanya had stated that the minister’s claim was false.

“Women deserved to be supported and respected. Taking advantage and exploiting personal life decisions of celebrities for the sake of media headlines is shameful,” he said in a statement.