Hyderabad: BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday demanded an immediate and unconditional public apology from minister Konda Surekha for levelling unfounded and false allegations against him that he had phones of actors Samantha and Naga Chaitanya tapped and was responsible for their divorce.
Rama Rao, in a legal notice issued to Surekha through his counsel, said the minister’s allegations were deliberate and were made with malafide intention, and were designed to defame him. He strongly condemned Surekha’s allegations, adding that the Minister’s baseless comments about him were made only for her political gain, and out of political vendetta against him.
The notice to Surekha asked her to immediately withdraw her comments against Rama Rao, tender an unconditional public apology “for tarnishing” the BRS leader’s reputation through “malicious and defamatory acts,” and to “refrain from engaging in any further or frivolous defamatory acts, directly or indirectly” against Rama Rao.
The notice said if Surekha fails to comply with the conditions in the notice, then Rama Rao can initiate criminal and civil proceedings as per law.
Rama Rao said Surekha abused her position as a minister, and her comments were not based on facts, and she did not provide any proof to back her comments. There is every possibility that people might believe what Surekha said given her standing as a Minister, Rama Rao said, adding that in the past, the Election Commission of India had warned Surekha to refrain from levelling baseless allegations.
Earlier, he hit out at Surekha declaring that none from his party targeted her on social media. During an informal chat with reporters at Telangana Bhavan, Rama Rao questioned the reasons behind Surekha’s “fake hue and cry” over posts about her on social media platforms.
“None spoke about her on behalf of our party. Is the same social media not being used to mount attacks on us?” Rama Rao said, adding that it is probably the right time for Surekha to recall the gutter language and abuse she used in the past about BRS leaders.
The BRS leader also said that he could share some of the videos in which Surekha can be seen and heard using abusive language.
“This is the same Konda Surekha who is saying that phones of heroines were tapped. Are those she talked about today not women? Do they not have feelings and emotions? And when absolutely irresponsible charges were levelled against us by her, did women in our families not experience agony? And I will send comments by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to Surekha and other ministers and they should wash his mouth with phenyl,” Rama Rao said.
