Nagarjuna Akkineni to take legal action against Konda Surekha for remark on ChaySam divorce, minister withdraws comment

Nagarjuna

Telangana minister Konda Surekha's comment on Telugu movie stars Chaitanya Akkineni and Samantha Ruth Prabhu did not sit well with the respective families and also with members of the film industry. The minister was collectively called out by the affected families and by members of the Telugu film industry including Chiranjeevi, Nani, Jr NTR, and Allu Arjun.

The Congress leader claimed Bharat Rashtra Samiti, working President KT Rama Rao's interference led to the divorce of movie stars Samantha and Naga Chaitanya. KTR issued a legal notice to the minister asking her to withdraw her comment. While she has retracted the statement, Nagarjuna Akkineni and his family has decided to proceed with a legal action against the minister for defamatory comment.

Nagarjuna confirmed the news with Times Now. "I am in Vizag. I am heading back to Hyderabad for action ahead," he said before adding, "Oh, absolutely! A hundred percent. We can't let this go. Not at all. I am rushing back with lawyers."

The veteran actor also took to X on Wednesday and wrote, "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. 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."

How Samantha and Chaitanya Akkineni reacted to the comment

Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya ended their marriage in 2021.

Reacting to Surekha's comment, Samantha wrote on an Instagram story, "To be a woman, to come out and work, to survive in a glamorous industry where women are more often than not treated as props, to fall in love & to fall out of love, to still stand up and fight... It takes a lot of courage and strength. 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 my name out of political battles? I have always remained non-political and wish to continue doing so."

Naga Chaitanya also reacted to the Minister's remarks through a post on X, where he said that Ms. Surekha's statements were untrue and unacceptable. The actor wrote, "The decision of divorce is easily one of the most painful and unfortunate life decisions one has to make. After a lot of thought, 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 as two mature adults. However, there have been various baseless and completely ridiculous gossips on the matter so far."

Naga continued, "I have remained silent all this while out of deep respect for my earlier spouse as well as my family. Today, the claim made by Minister Konda Surekha garu is not only false, it is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable. Women deserve to be supported and respected. Taking advantage and exploiting the personal life decisions of celebrities for the sake of media headlines is shameful."

Telangana minister Konda Surekha issues clarification on her controversial statement

Taking to social media platform X, the Congress leader said that her remark was in order to question KT Rama Rao for "belittling women" and not to hurt Samantha Prabhu's sentiments.

She further stated that she would "unconditionally" retract her comments if she or her fans were offended by them.

"My comments are meant to question a leader's belittling of women and not to hurt your (Samantha Prabhu) sentiments. 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 by my comments, I unconditionally retract my comments. Don't think otherwise," Surekha said.