Telangana minister Konda Surekha on Thursday issued a clarification that her allegations blaming Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao for divorce between actors Samantha and Naga Chaitanya was not meant for “belittling women” or hurt the actresses’ sentiments.
“My comments are meant to question a leader’s belittling of women and not to hurt your (Samantha Prabhu) sentiments. The way you have grown up with self-power is not only an admiration for me but also an ideal…If you or your fans are offended by my comments, I unconditionally retract my comments. Don’t think otherwise,” the minister said in a post on social platform X.
Minister’s controversial claim
State Congress minister Surekha said former Telangana chief minister Chandrasekara Rao’s son KT Rama Rao (KTR) was the key reason for divorce between Samantha and Chaitanya. “KTR was the reason behind the divorce of Naga Chaitanya and Samantha…,” the minister said, claiming that the BRS is targeting and harassing other female leaders in Telangana.
“He was a minister at that time and used to tap the phones of the actresses and then find their weaknesses to blackmail them… He used to make them drug addicts and then do this… Everyone knows this, Samantha, Naga Chaitanya, his family–everybody is aware that such a thing happened,” she alleged adding that KTR was the reason why many actresses quit the Telugu film industry early and marry earlier in their careers.
BRS, KTR hit back
The BRS slammed the minister, calling her allegations “cheap and disgusting”. The opposition party also said that the Congress party holds no moral ground to preach about the Constitution or its values anymore.
“@RahulGandhi, for all your talk of the Constitution and democracy, this is how your party leader speaks. Do listen to her comments; they are a disgrace to politics. @PriyankaGandhi , this is how a leader and minister in your party talks about women and celebrities, dragging their personal lives into politics,” BRS said on its official ‘X’ handle.
Meanwhile, KTR hit out at the Congress minister with a legal notice threatening legal action, including defamation and criminal cases for her allegations. KTR also demanded a public apology from within 24 hours from Surekha.
Asserting that she would not go back on the comments made against her by the BRS party on social media, she demanded an apology from Rama Rao for those remarks.
On the legal notice sent by the BRS leader, Surekha said she would also proceed legally.
Reacting to her comments, Rama Rao on Wednesday said he sent a notice to the minister demanding an unconditional apology lest legal action will be taken.
The minister for environment, forests and endowments, Konda Surekha, alleged that the BRS social media activists were targeting her online and defaming her by making abusive comments against her.
Meanwhile, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president B Mahesh Kumar Goud on Thursday requested the film fraternity to put an end to the issue after “controversy” erupted following the minister’s remarks, saying she had withdrawn her statement which had “pained” them.
The TPCC chief further said he had spoken to the minister over the issue and sought an explanation.
Goud also urged the Congress leaders and ministers to be careful while speaking, a release from the party said.
Actress Kushboo Sundar termed the remark as an “absolute disgrace to womanhood” and said, “a person in a responsible position cannot make such baseless, appalling and degrading statements about my industry, my place of worship”.
“Cinema industry will not be a mute spectator to such abuse anymore. Enough is enough. You have to apologise, as woman to another woman, to the entire movie industry for such baseless and false allegations. Democracy in India is not a one way traffic, but we shall refrain from stooping to your level,” she wrote in a post on X.