Hyderabad:

Telangana’s Forests Minister Konda Surekha has triggered a massive controversy with her allegations against Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader KT Rama Rao – linking him with the divorce of actors Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, drugs and blackmail. Her comments have drawn a sharp response from Naga Chaitanya’s father, veteran Telugu actor Nagarjuna Akkineni, who said her remarks are “completely irrelevant and false” and demanded that she withdraws them.

“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 criticize your opponents. Please respect other people’s privacy,” read a rough translation of his post on X, formerly Twitter. 

“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.

Mr Rao has not commented on the matter but his party leader and former minister Harish Rao Thanneeru has demanded an unconditional apology from the Congress leader. 

In a scathing attack on KT Rama Rao, son of former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Ms Surekha said he was the reason why many actresses left the film industry and married early. KT Rama Rao, she claimed, blackmailed film personalities after getting them addicted to drugs.

She also said that she suspected that the BRS leader was behind a series of offensive posts against her.

The Congress leader had faced abuse online after a photo showing BJP leader and Medak MP Raghunandan Rao placing a garland around her neck at a programme. She accused BRS leaders of using the incident to demean her using her gender.

Naga Chaitanya, who parted ways with Samantha Ruth Prabhu two years ago, got engaged to actor Sobhita Dhulipala in August.

New Delhi:

Popular actor Nagarjuna’s N-Convention centre is being demolished by the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection (HYDRA), owing to allegations of encroaching the Full Tank Level (FTL) area and buffer zone of the Thammidikunta Lake.

The FTL refers to the spread of any water body upon which construction is restricted. A buffer zone also remains established with the FTL area to prevent encroachments upon water bodies.

Earlier this year, the zonal commissioners of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) were tasked with forming lake protection committees to prevent encroachments upon water bodies in and around the city. Recently, the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) has also revealed that the extent of lakes in Hyderabad was reduced by 61 per cent between 1979 and 2024.

Nagarjuna’s Convention Centre allegedly stood on 1.12 acre of the FTL area and an additional 2 acre within the buffer zone. According to official sources, the FTL area of Thammidikunta Lake is approximately 29.24 acre.

The property was under scrutiny for several years. However, the GHMC had not taken any action against it. The management of the convention centre allegedly used influence to bypass regulatory actions from concerned authorities.

An official complaint against the convention centre was filed to HYDRA on Wednesday by Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Telangana’s Minister of Roads and Buildings. He also enclosed with his complaint the FTL map pointing out the encroachment along with a Google Earth map.

The actor took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) following the demolition drive. “The land is a Patta land, and not even an inch of tank plan is encroached. As a law-abiding citizen, if the Court before which the matter is pending, had decided against me, I would have carried out the demolition myself.” he wrote.

Pained by the unlawful manner of demolition carried out in respect of N Convention, contrary to existing stay orders and Court cases.
I thought it fit to issue this statement to place on record certain facts for protecting my reputation and to indicate that we have not done any…

— Nagarjuna Akkineni (@iamnagarjuna) August 24, 2024

He also claimed that no notice was issued to him prior to the demolition this morning.

The Congress government recently constituted HYDRA for Telangana Core Urban Region (TCUR) for disaster management, asset protection and other functions. They are responsible for managing and protecting government assets such as parks, layout open spaces, playgrounds, and lakes.

HYDRA is headed by IPS officer AV Ranganath and it has been demolishing illegal structures in the state to reclaim encroached land of water bodies. Earlier this month, they demolished unauthorised constructions in the heritage lake Bum-Rukn-Ud-Dowla in Shastripuram, and near the Gandipet reservoir in Rangareddy district.