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

Days after making controversial statements on Telugu film actors Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s divorce, Telangana minister Konda Surekha has stirred another row alleging Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao (KTR) was responsible for his father and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s (KCR) “disappearance” from public life.

Congress leader Surekha made these comments on Thursday (October 3) in KCR’s constituency Gajwel and urged the members of her party to file a "missing person" complaint.

Also read: Telangana minister stirs up huge row linking Samantha-Naga Chaitanya divorce to KT Rama Rao

KCR at wife's birthday celebrations

The allegations from Surekha come days after KCR’s family released photos of him attending his wife Shobha’s birthday celebrations.

Earlier, Surekha was served defamation notices by Chaitanya’s father and actor Nagarjuna Akkineni and KTR after she blamed the latter for the divorce of Chaitanya and Samantha.

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

Seeking financial compensation for the harm to his reputation, the legal notice from KTR also asked the forest and environment minister to offer an unconditional apology for her widely condemned statement.

On Wednesday, Surekha stunned everyone by alleging that KTR, when his BRS party was in power, used to have the telephones of actresses tapped “to find out their weaknesses and use them for blackmail”.

“It is KTR because of whom Samantha's divorce happened. He was a minister at the time and used to tap the phones of the actresses to find out their weaknesses and use them for blackmail. He used to make them drug addicts; everyone knows this, everybody is aware,” she said.

She also alleged that many female actors in the Telugu film industry cut short their careers because of KTR.

What Samantha said

In a message on Instagram, a miffed Samantha told the minister to leave her out of her political battles.

“My divorce is a personal matter, and I request that you refrain from speculating about it,” she wrote. “My divorce was (by) mutual consent and amicable, with no political conspiracy involved.”

Chaitanya also hit out at the minister, calling her remarks "completely irrelevant and false".

"Don't use the lives of film stars who stay away from politics to criticise your opponents. Please respect other people's privacy," the actor said in a tweet in Telugu.

Surekha expresses regret

Several senior actors, including Chiranjeevi and Junior NTR, also protested against the minister’s outburst.

After widespread criticism, Surekha claimed that she did not mean to hurt Samatha’s sentiments and that her target was KTR who she said was used to “belittling women”.

“I never use anyone’s personal problems to target them, nor did I do it in your [Samantha’s] case. That’s not my style or intention,” she said.

“I have never crossed the boundaries in my political discourse, nor have I made baseless allegations. If my words have hurt or offended you, I express my regret. I always strive to uphold the dignity of my profession,” the Congress leader added.