A Telangana court today told state minister Konda Surekha to take down her social media posts linking BRS working president KT Rama Rao to the divorce of actors Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya.
A city civil court in Hyderabad was hearing a petition by Mr Rao, who had filed a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against the minister.
Ms Surekha, who is Telangana’s Minister for Forest and Environment, stoked controversy earlier this month when she alleged that KT Rama Rao, commonly known as KTR, was the reason behind Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s divorce in 2021.
She claimed that KTR, a former minister, tapped the phones of actresses and blackmailed them. In this connection, she said he was behind the divorce of the actors.
“It is KT Rama Rao because of whom (actress) Samantha’s divorce happened… 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 had said.
Both actors released separate statements, calling the remarks “absolutely ridiculous” and asking the minister to be “responsible and respectful of individuals’ privacy”.
Mr Chaitanya’s father and famous Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna also filed a defamation case against Ms Surekha, alleging that the minister’s remarks damaged his family’s reputation.
Several cine personalities such as Chiranjeevi, junior NTR, Mahesh Babu, and Vijay Devarakonda also hit out at the Congress leader.
Amid the massive backlash surrounding her remark, Ms Surekha apologised to the actors and their families.
“I spoke about a family. It was an unexpected slip of the tongue on my part. When I saw their tweets, I felt bad. When I realised that, I felt bad that I hurt someone. So I unconditionally withdraw my statement. But in KTR’s case, there is no going back. I demand his apology,” the minister said.