Telangana Minister Now Claims KTR Is Responsible For KCR's 'Disappearance'

Having triggered a row with her remarks on the Naga Chaitanya-Samantha divorce, Telangana Minister Konda Surekha has stirred the pot and said that senior Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao may be responsible for his father K Chandrashekar Rao allegedly not being seen in public for a while.

Speaking in the former Telangana chief minister's constituency of Gajwel on Thursday, Ms Surekha urged members of her party, the Congress, to file a missing case for K Chandrashekar Rao, who is popularly known as KCR. 

The minister's comments came just a day after the Rao family released photos in which KCR can be seen attending the birthday celebrations of his wife Shobha.

On Wednesday, Ms Surekha had sparked controversy by linking KT Rama Rao, or KTR, with the divorce of actors Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. "It is KT Rama Rao 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 had said. 

Her comments had been panned by top actors in the Telugu film industry.

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

'RRR' actor NT Rama Rao Junior had also hit out at Ms Surekha and said dragging personal lives into politics was a new low. 

Samantha Ruth Prabhu had asked the minister to leave her out of political battles and respect people's privacy.

"My divorce is a personal matter and I request that you refrain from speculating about it... To clarify: my divorce was mutual consent and amicable, with no political conspiracy involved," the actor said.

Ms Surekha had apologised to Ms Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya, but refused to withdraw her allegations against KTR, demanding his apology. 

"I spoke about a family. It was an unexpected slip of the tongue on my part. When I saw their tweets, I felt bad. I felt bad that I hurt someone. So I unconditionally withdraw my statement. But, in KTR's case, there is no going back. I demand his apology," the minister said. 

Legal Action

Megastar Nagarjuna Akkineni, the father of Naga Chaitanya, filed a defamation complaint against Ms Surekha on Thursday and accused her of making the allegations "with the sole intention of damaging the complainant's personal, professional, and familial reputation" despite being "fully aware" that the statements were false. 

KT Rama Rao has also sent a defamation notice to Ms Surekha and asked her to tender an unconditional public apology. 

Trolling

BJP leader Raghunandan Rao has also, meanwhile, filed a complaint under the Information Technology Act after he and Ms Surekha were trolled by social media handles allegedly linked to the BRS. During a recent event, Mr Rao had honoured Ms Surekha with a garland and this, the BJP leader said, had led to childish comments about them getting married, including some indecent ones. 

Mr Rao filed the complaint against BRS MLA Harish Rao, who he claimed had also made one such comment, and KT Rama Rao, alleging that the trolling was done by people paid by the party. 

Ms Surekha had also said she had lost sleep because of the comments. 

"I am questioning KCR, KTR, and Harish Rao. If the women in your home were trolled in the same way... You were ministers for 10 years, it's your responsibility to respect women. If you continue to troll, there will be consequences. Harish Rao and KTR should apologise immediately," she had said.