PTC News Desk: Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya slammed Telangana Minister Konda Surekha on Wednesday for claiming that senior Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao was the reason for their divorce.

Chaitanya split up with Prabhu two years ago and got engaged to actor Sobhita Dhulipala in August.

"KTR (Rama Rao) was the reason behind the divorce of Naga Chaitanya and Samantha," Surekha claimed on Wednesday. Her remarks, however, elicited a harsh rebuke from Samantha and Chaitanya.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s reaction

Samanta Ruth Prabhu responded to Konda Surekha, advising the Telangana minister to be "responsible and respectful of individuals' privacy" and to stay "out of political battles". She accused her in her Instagram stories of speculating, misrepresenting facts, and trivialising her journey as a woman.  

"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," she wrote.

Naga Chaitanya's reaction

In reaction to Surekha's remarks, Chaitanya said that the minister was "not only false but was absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable".

"Women deserve to be supported," he stated in a statement about X.

The actor went on to say that divorce is one of the "most painful and unfortunate life decisions" a person can 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," he added.

Chaitanya further claimed that "taking advantage and exploiting the personal life decisions of celebrities for the sake of media headlines is shameful".