Hyderabad/IBNS: Telugu cinema superstar Nagarjuna Akkineni has filed a complaint against Telangana Environment Minister Konda Surekha over her "defamatory (and) derogatory" comments about his son Naga Chaitanya's divorce with fellow actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

On Wednesday Konda Surekha triggered a row after accusing Bharat Rashtra Samithi's KT Rama Rao - of orchestrating Naga Chaitanya and Samantha's divorce by luring the latter into consuming drugs and then blackmailing her with it.

Surekha had alleged KTR tapped several actresses' phones and used their weaknesses to blackmail them.

KTR's phone tapping and blackmailing were behind the divorce of Samantha and Naga Chaitanya, the minister had alleged.

Surekha said he was why many actresses left the film industry and married early.

"It is KT Rama Rao because of whom Samantha's divorce happened... He was a minister then and used to tap phones of the actresses to their weaknesses to blackmail them... He used to make them drug addicts... Everyone knows this... everybody is aware..." she ranted.

In a complaint filed in Hyderabad's Nampally district, Nagarjuna said the Congress leader, while "fully aware" of the false nature of her statements, "deliberately spread these allegations with the sole intention of damaging the complainant's personal, professional, and familial reputation..."

The statement was made with the malicious intent of conveying falsehoods to the public at large, intending to cause harm to the complainant and his family reputation for political gain and sensationalism..." the complaint said, adding, "The above actions constitute a criminal offence..."

This is the second legal notice the Congress leader has recived on this matter; KTR, as KT Rama Rao is called, has also sent a defamation notice to Konda Surekha, accusing her of practicing "disgusting and nauseating politics" and demanding action from her party senior, Rahul Gandhi.

Facing massive public ire and criticism from the former couple, Surekha apologised to the actor but did not spare KTR.

"There is no question of leaving KTR, he must apologize to me," she said.

Naga Chaitanya, Samantha Prabhu respond:

Both Naga Chaitanya and Samantha have reacted sharply to the politician's comment.

Naga Chaitanya called his divorce a "painful and unfortunate life decision" and said, "... 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..."

"However, there have been various baseless and completely ridiculous gossip on the matter... the claim made by Konda Surekha is not only false, it is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable... exploiting personal life decisions of celebrities for the sake of media headlines is shameful," he said.

Samntha also hit back at the controversy urging her name to be "kept out of the politics battles".

"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, who parted ways with Samantha Ruth Prabhu three years ago, got engaged to actress Sobhita Dhulipala in August this year.