#apologiseToAkkineniFamily: Telugu actors unite to condemn Konda Surekha for blaming KTR for Samantha, Naga's divorce

Hyderabad: Telangana Minister Konda Surekha is under fire after she accused BRS working president KT Rama Rao of engineering a divorce between Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Akkineni Naga Chaitanya.

With the hashtags #FilmIndustryWillNotTolerate, and #apologiseToAkkineniFamily, many actors from the Industry have posted their views supporting the Nagarjuna family. Several cine personalities such as Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, junior NTR, Venkatesh, Prakash Raj, Nani, Allu Arjun and Khushbu hit out at the minister for her remarks.

Naga Chaitanya's father and top Telugu actor Nagarjuna strongly condemned the Minister's remarks asking her not to drag movie stars, who stay away from politics, to criticize her opponents.

He asked the Minister to respect 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," Nagarjuna said in a social media post.

Nagarjuna’s wife Amala Akkineni also lambasted the Minister. "Madam Minister, do you rely on and believe people with no decency to feed you utterly scandalous stories about my husband without an iota of shame or truth? This is shameful. If leaders lower themselves into the gutter and behave like criminals, what will happen to our country?," asked Amala.

She asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to restrain his leaders and make the minister retract her venomous statements with an apology to her family.

Naga Chaitanya also penned down an emotional statement about his divorce and stated that the Minister's comments were shameful.

Though Samantha Ruth Prabhu did not respond immediately, she later posted a story on Instagram clarifying that the divorce was mutual and amicable, with no political conspiracy involved.

"I hope you realize that your words carry significant weight as a minister. I implore you to be responsible and respectful of individuals' 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 my name out of political battles? I have always remained non-political and wish to continue doing so," Posted Samantha.

In a post on X, Jr NTR asked not to drag personal lives into politics. "Konda Surekha garu, dragging personal lives into politics is a new low. Public figures, especially those in responsible positions like you, must maintain dignity and respect for privacy. It’s disheartening to see baseless statements thrown around carelessly, especially about the film industry. We will not sit quietly while others make baseless allegations against us. We should rise above this and maintain respect for each other’s boundaries. Let’s ensure our society does not normalize such reckless behavior in democratic India," Jr NTR wrote.

Actor Chiranjeevi said he was pained to see the disgraceful remarks made by an honourable woman minister.

"It is a shame that celebs and members of film fraternity become soft targets as they provide instant reach and attention. We as Film Industry stand united in opposing such vicious verbal assaults on our members," wrote Chiranjeevi.

Reacting to her comments, Actor Nani said that it is disgusting to see politicians thinking that they can get away with talking any kind of nonsense. "When your words can be so irresponsible it’s stupid of us to expect that you will have any responsibility for your people. It’s not just about actors or cinema. This is not abt any political party. It is not okay for someone in such a respectable position to talk such utter baseless rubbish in front of the media and think that it is okay. We all should condemn such practice which will reflect poorly on our society," Nani said in a post on X.

In a post, Actor Khushboo Sundar said ,"I thought it was only those who need 2 minute fame and indulge in yellow journalism speak this language. But here, I see an absolute disgrace to womanhood. Konda Surekha garu, I am sure some values were instilled in you. Where have they flown out of the window? A person in a responsible position cannot make such baseless, appalling and degrading statements about my industry, my place of worship. Cinema industry will not be a mute spectator to such abuse anymore. Enough is enough. You have to apologise, as woman to another woman, to the entire movie industry for such baseless and false allegations. Democracy in India is not a one way traffic, but we shall refrain from stooping to your level."

Konda Surekha apologies to Samantha:

Following this, Minister Konda Surekha posted a story on X apologizing to Samantha.

"My comments are meant to question a leader's (KTR) behavior towards women, but not to hurt your (Samantha) sentiments. If you or your fans have been deeply hurt, I take back my comments," she said.

TPCC chief asks to put end to the controversy:

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud appealed to the film industry to put an end to the controversy over the remarks by the party Minister Konda Surekha against film personalities since she apologised.

In a video message, Goud said, "Considering the fact that women were on both sides of the issue, I urge that the controversy around the Minister’s comments be stopped. The film industry should also look at the way the Minister was trolled by a section of social media users,"

He also asked Congress Ministers and leaders to be exercise restraint while making comments.