After Samantha Ruth Prabhu, now actor Naga Chaitanya has slammed Telangana minister Konda Surekha's controversial statement about their marriage and divorce. Chaitanya called her remark "ridiculous" and said that it was "shameful" to drag names of celebrities just to grab eyeballs.
Chaitanya took to his social media handle on late Wednesday night to issue his official statement on the controversy. "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," he wrote.
He further mentioned, "However, there have been various baseless and completely ridiculous gossips on the matter so far. 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," Chaitanya stated.
What is the controversy?
It all began after Konda Surekha linked Bharat Rashtra Samiti Chief KT Rama Rao to Samantha and Chaitanya's divorce. During a media interaction, she said that KTR would tap phones of actresses and blackmail them, which led to the former couple's divorce.
"It is KT Rama Rao because of whom 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 would make them drug addicts and then do this. Everyone knows this, Samantha, Naga Chaitanya, his family, everybody is aware that such a thing happened," she told the media.
The minister is now at the receiving end of severe backlash not just from the public but also Tollywood and other political leaders. KTR has even slapped her with a defamation notice.
Samantha, Nagarjuna react
Earlier, Samantha issued a statement slamming the minister and asked her to keep her name out of petty politics. "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," she stated.
She also mentioned that her divorce with Chaitanya was "mutual and amicable" and there was no political angle to it.
Veteran actor Nagarjuna also criticised Konda Surekha for the statement. "I strongly condemn the comments of the Minister, 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," he wrote.
