Court tells Telangana minister to delete remarks on Samantha's divorce

Telangana minister Konda Surekha was told by a court on Friday (October 25) to delete social media posts in which she blamed BRS leader KT Rama Rao for the divorce of actors Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya.

A civil court in Hyderabad gave the ruling after hearing a petition by Rama Rao, who has filed a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against the Congress minister.

Also read: Minister stirs up huge row linking Samantha-Naga Chaitanya divorce to KTR

The forest and environment minister caused outrage this month when she alleged that Rama Rao, widely known as KTR, was the reason the actors separated in 2021.

Offensive remarks

"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,” she said.

Also read: Telangana minister apologises for Samantha-Naga Chaitanya divorce remark

“Everyone knows this, Samantha, Naga Chaitanya, his family – everybody is aware that such a thing happened," she said.

Both Samantha and Chaitanya dubbed her remarks "absolutely ridiculous" and asked the minister to be "responsible and respectful of individuals' privacy".

Minister’s apology to actors

Chaitanya's father and Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna filed a defamation case against Surekha, alleging that the minister's remarks damaged his family's reputation.

Also read: Telangana minister Surekha now claims KTR behind KCR’s ‘disappearance’

Several others from the film industry including Chiranjeevi and junior NTR also blasted the Congress leader.

Surekha later apologised to the actors and their families, calling her remarks “an unexpected slip of the tongue on my part” but maintained that she would not withdraw her comments on KTR.