"Defamed My Son": Nagarjuna Complains Against Telangana Minister
Telugu cinema superstar Nagarjuna Akkineni, the father of actor Naga Chaitanya, has filed a complaint against Telangana Environment Minister Konda Surekha's "defamatory (and) derogatory" comments about the break-up of his son's marriage with fellow actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu.
On Wednesday Konda Surekha triggered a row by accusing Bharat Rashtra Samithi's KT Rama Rao - of orchestrating Naga Chaitanya and Samantha's divorce by luring the latter into a drug habit and then blackmailing her. "It is KT Rama Rao because of whom Samantha's divorce happened... He was a minister then and used to tap phones of the actresses to their weaknesses to blackmail them... He used to make them drug addicts... Everyone knows this... everybody is aware..." she ranted.
In a complaint filed in Hyderabad's Nampally district, Nagarjuna complained the Congress leader, while "fully aware" of the false nature of her statements, "deliberately spread these allegations with the sole intention of damaging the complainant's personal, professional, and familial reputation..."
"The statement was made with the malicious intent of conveying falsehoods to the public at large, intending to cause harm to the complainant and his family reputation for political gain and sensationalism..." the complaint said, adding, "The above actions constitute a criminal offence..." This is the second legal notice the Congress leader has been served on this matter; KTR, as KT Rama Rao is called, has also sent a defamation notice to Konda Surekha, accusing her of practicing "disgusting and nauseating politics" and demanding action from her party senior, Rahul Gandhi.
Konda Surekha's remark sparked a massive row. Both Samantha Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya are top actors, and the latter also belongs to the Akkineni family, among the most influential in the Telugu film industry. Naga Chaitanya and Samantha have reacted sharply to the politician's comment.
Naga Chaitanya called his divorce a "painful and unfortunate life decision" and said, "... a mutual decision was made by me and my former spouse to part ways. It was a decision made in peace... owing to our different life goals and in the interest of moving forward with respect and dignity..."
"However, there have been various baseless and completely ridiculous gossip on the matter... the claim made by Konda Surekha is not only false, it is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable... exploiting personal life decisions of celebrities for the sake of media headlines is shameful," he said.
His ex-partner fired a scathing response to the Congress leader. "My divorce is a personal matter and I request you refrain from speculating about it... Could you please keep my name out of political battles? I have always remained non-political and wish to continue doing so..." The two actors have been backed by industry colleagues. Stung by the backlash, Konda Surekha on Thursday morning offered an "unconditional" apology to the two actors, but refused to back down from attacks on KT Rama Rao and demanded he too "apologise".
"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. So I unconditionally withdraw my statement." "But in KTR's case, there is no going back. I demand his apology," she declared. She also responded to Samantha Prabhu, saying, "My comments questioned a leader's belittling of women... 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, I unconditionally retract my comment..."
Meanwhile, although neither the Telangana Chief Minister, Revanth Reddy, nor the Congress' senior leadership, has responded, Konda Surekha's Cabinet colleague, IT Minister Sridhar Babu has. Speaking to NDTV, Mr Babu pointed out the Congress' state unit boss, Mahesh Kumar Goud, had "intervened" and that Konda Surekha had "apologised unconditionally". "We don't need to fire off others' shoulders to settle political scores..." he said, "We assure full respect and dignity to the film fraternity."
Mr Goud had declared himself "extremely pained" and said such remarks were "unacceptable" to him. "Freedom of speech can be exercised as long as it does not hurt other's sentiments," he said on X. "As the father of a daughter, husband to a wife, and son to a mother... I am deeply anguished by the unacceptable remarks and language used by a woman Minister against another woman. I strongly condemn the cheap and baseless comments..." he said, "The women of our country and our film fraternity should be treated with utmost respect and dignity."
