Telangana Minister withdraws comments on Samantha's divorce

Hyderabad, Oct 3 (IANS) Telangana Minister for Forests and Environment, Konda Surekha, has withdrawn her remarks about actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu's divorce from Naga Chaitanya.

After Samantha reacted strongly to her comments, Surekha took to 'X' to state that her comments were not meant to hurt her sentiments but to question a leader's belittling of women.

The minister told Samantha that she not only admires the way she has come up in life with self-power but is also an ideal for her.

"If you or your fans are offended by my comments, I unconditionally retract my comments," the Minister wrote.

The Minister's comments linking Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao to the actor couple's divorce triggered an uproar.

While Rama Rao has served her a legal notice to withdraw her remarks and apologies or face legal action, Samantha, Naga Chaitanya, his father and actor Nagarjuna have slammed her.

Several film personalities also lashed out at the Minister for dragging names of movie stars to target her political opponents.

Samantha clarified that her divorce was with mutual consent and amicable.

She urged the minister not to trivialise her journey and to be responsible and respectful of individuals’ privacy.

In her statement posted on social media, 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.”

“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 stated that the minister's claim is not only false but also absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable.

"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.

Naga Chaitanya’s stepmother Amala Akkineni has lashed out at Konda Surekha for her comments.

“Shocked to hear a woman minister turn into a demon, conjuring evil fictions allegations, preying on decent citizens as fuel for a political war. 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? This is really shameful. If leaders lower themselves into the gutter and behave like criminals, what will happen to our country?” she asked on ‘X’

Amala appealed to the Congress leader to make the Minister retract her statement. “Mr Rahul Gandhiji, if you believe in human decency, please restrain your politicians and make your minister retract her venomous statements with an apology to my family. Protect the citizens of this country,” she added.

Earlier, Amala’s husband and Naga Chaitanya’s father Nagarjuna strongly condemned the Minister’s comments.

Nagarjuna asked her not to use the lives of movie stars who stay away from politics to criticize her opponents.

“I strongly condemn the comments of the Honorable Minister Mrs. Konda Surekha. Don't use the lives of movie stars who stay away from politics to criticize your opponents. Please respect other people's privacy,” Nagarjuna posted on ‘X’.

“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,” he added.