Facing flak over her comments blaming opposition BRS leader K T Rama Rao for the divorce of actors Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya, Telangana Minister Konda Surekha on Thursday withdrew her comments that had prompted the Telugu cinema industry to rally behind their colleagues.
Samantha and Chaitanya spoke out against the minister, even as they said their decision to separate was mutual.
Several cine personalities such as Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, junior NTR, Venkatesh, Prakash Raj and Khushbu hit out at the minister for her remarks.
As the row seemed to get bigger, the Congress’ Telangana unit urged the cinema industry to put an end to the matter, citing Surekha withdrawing her controversial remarks.
Speaking to mediapersons, Surekha said she had to take the names of the actors after she became emotional over the comments made by the Rama Rao, the BRS Working president, about her.
“I had to criticise him (Rama Rao). I do not have any personal animosity towards anyone. Taking the name of a family was inadvertent. I felt really bad after seeing her tweet (Samantha’s Instagram). Last night itself, I posted a message unconditionally withdrawing my comments,” Surekha said.
On her Instagram Story, Samantha wrote there was “no political conspiracy” behind her split with Chaitanya, which was announced in 2021. In his note shared on X, Chaitanya, son of top Telugu actor Nagarjuna said the divorce was one of the “most painful and unfortunate” decisions of his life, and that Surekha’s claims were “ridiculous”.