Hyderabad, Oct 2 (IANS): Clarifying that her divorce was with mutual consent and amicable, actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu on Wednesday lashed out at Telangana minister Konda Surekha for linking Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K. T. Rama Rao with her divorce from actor Naga Chaitanya.

The actress took to microblogging site X to react strongly to the minister’s comments and urged her not to trivialise her journey and be responsible and respectful of individuals’ privacy.

In her statement posted on social media, Samantha highlighted her journey and fight in the glamorous industry. “To be a woman, To come out and work, To survive in a glamours 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…,” reads her post.

“It takes a lot of courage and strength. Konda Surekha Garu, I am proud of what this journey turned me into -- please don’t trivialise it. I hope you realise that your words carry significant weight as a minister. I implore you to be responsible and respectful of individual’s privacy,” she wrote.

“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 me out of political battles? I have always remained non-political and wish to continue doing so,” the actress added.

Meanwhile, Naga Chaitanya’s stepmother Amala Akkineni has lashed out at Konda Surekha for her comments.

“Shocked to hear a woman minister turn into a demon, conjuring evil fiction allegations, preying on decent citizens as fuel for a political war. 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 really shameful. If leaders lower themselves into the gutter and behave like criminals, what will happen to our country?” she asked on X.

Amala appealed to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to make the minister retract her statement. “Mr Rahul Gandhiji, if you believe in human decency, please restrain your politicians and make your minister retract her venomous statements with an apology to my family. Protect the citizens of this country,” she added.

Earlier, Amala’s husband and Naga Chaitanya’s father Nagarjuna strongly condemned the minister’s comments.

Nagarjuna asked her not to use the lives of movie stars, who stay away from politics, to criticise her opponents.

“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 criticise your opponents. Please respect other people's privacy,” Nagarjuna posted on X.

“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 added.