KTR files defamation case against Telangana min Konda Surekha

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA KT Rama Rao (KTR), Thursday, October 10, filed a defamation case at the Nampally court against Telangana minister Konda Surekha, over her remarks linking him to Tollywood’s Akkineni family and actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

This follows a legal notice sent to minister Surekha, on October 2, demanding the withdrawal of her alleged derogatory statements, and an unconditional public apology for “tarnishing his reputation”, within 24 hours.

The minister is also facing a defamation case filed by actor Nagarjuna Akkineni on October 3, regarding the issue, which had caused a huge uproar in the state. “Don’t use the lives of movie stars who stay away from politics to criticize your opponents. Please respect other people’s privacy,” Nagarjuna had said condemning the minister’s statements, a day earlier.

“As a woman in a responsible position, your comments and accusations against our family are completely irrelevant and false. I request you to withdraw your comments immediately,” Nagarjuna added.

The court has scheduled a hearing over the case for October 23.

Actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu, another party linked to the issue, had made a strong public statement, imploring minister Konda Surekha’s words, following which the minister publicly apologised to the actor.

The events which cooked up a storm in Telangana’s polity and social space, unfolded when Konda Surekha made a statement accusing KTR of being responsible for the divorce of actors Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya.

Konda Surekha’s remarks

On October 2, while addressing the media, Konda Surekha made controversial statements against KTR, accusing him of being the reason behind Samantha and Naga Chaitanya’s divorce.

“KTR is 100% responsible for Samantha-Naga Chaitanya’s divorce. He demanded that Samantha be sent to him in return for not demolishing the N-Convention. Nagarjuna asked Samantha to go to him but she refused to go. So they asked her to leave, that’s how the divorce happened,” said Konda Surekha.

“KTR took drugs, got people habituated, and organised rave parties. He played with their lives and used these situations to blackmail them,” she further alleged. These remarks were made a day after she accused the BRS of violating her modesty as a woman via social media posts.

The minister also accused KTR of tapping the phone calls and blackmailing whoever he wanted to take advantage of.

Konda Surekha slammed over remarks on KTR, Samantha-Chaitanya divorce

Telangana’s minister for forest and environment, and endowments found herself, and her party, in murky waters, after a huge outcry against her statements, from various film actors and technicians, who themselves have a huge fan following in the Telugu community, potentially damaging the public opinion about the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government in the state.

In a statement, Samantha said, “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.”

“To clarify: my divorce was mutual consent and amicable, with no political conspiracy involved”, she added.

Members of the Akkineni family also strongly condemned the minister’s remarks.

Nagarjuna’s wife and Nagachaitanya’s stepmother, Amala Akkineni termed the minister’s remarks as ‘shameful’ in a post on X. “Madam Minister, do you rely and believe people with no decency to feed you utterly scandalous stories about my husband without an iota of shame or truth?” stated Amala.

KTR, after sending a legal notice to the minister, took to X, asking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to send minister Konda Surekha to a “mental health specialist” or “rehabilitation therapist”.

The Congress party had distanced itself from the minister’s remarks, avoiding further trouble for the party, which is dealing with widespread criticism over its recent demolition drives regarding the HYDRA project.