Telugu groups join hands to hold one grand convention in Dallas

Little less than two years ago, founding members Hanmanth Reddy of ATA and Pailla Malla Reddy of TATA said they wanted to emphasize the importance of working together and forging friendship. They noted too that holding the convention jointly would also save money for both organizations, which could be used for social causes within the Telugu society.

Justifiably so, just over a week ago, the North American Telugu Community has indeed witnessed the unimaginable. The two organizations, American Telugu Association (ATA) and Telangana American Telugu Association (TATA) have walked on the path of realizing the Unified Telugu Convention in Dallas, TX at Irving Convention Center from May 31 – June 2nd.

The founders of ATA and TATA Hanmanth Reddy (ATA) and Dr. Pailla Malla Reddy and Dr. VijayPal Reddy along with their Presidents, their teams of Board Members and Executive Committees have showed unshaken resolve to make the unified Telugu Convention a reality.

The two large national Telugu organizations came together to hold for the first time a joint community convention in Dallas May 31-June 2, reflecting what the organizers said was the growing unity and bonhomie among community members. The gathering drew a who’s who of the Telugu community including Raj Kumar Reddy, who led social services projects in India, particularly in the rural areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Chandra Mohan Reddy, Andhra Pradesh’s minster for agriculture, attended the convention as the chief guest. The guest of honor at the banquet was dancer Shriya Saran. Telangana politician Padmavathi Reddy, guest of honor at the convention, called upon the Telugu NRIs to provide input for improved governance in India.

The convention started with a grand Banquet and all the who and who of Telugu Community have attended the grand curtain raiser event of the 3 day convention. Over 2000 people attended the banquet dinner and set the tone for the following 2 days.

Dr Raj Kumar Reddy, who has been the arm of Social Service projects in India was felicitated for his services in health care in the rural areas of the two Telugu States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Shreya Saran, who has been the guest of honor for the Banquet has gracefully entertained the audience with a dance number, heeding to a roaring request from the audience.

The second day opened with a grand Poorna Kumbham procession with a dance by local youth, followed by inaugural song recital, launching two days of activity that included a literary group, Sahitya Academy, as well as a women’s forum, business forum, panel discussions, political forum and celebration of the legacy of late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.

A lifetime achievement award was given to Yarlagadda Laxmi Prasad, Telugu writer and member of the Central Hindi Committee. Yarlagadda called upon the community to serve their adopted motherland.

Finally, Srinivasa Kalyanam, a religious rite, was conducted with priests from Jiyar Educational Trust, on the closing day. About 1,000 devotees attended the early-morning wedding ceremony of Lord Venkatesha. That evening, actress Trisha performed for fans.

Day 3 was started with Lord Srinivasa Kalyanam. The Lord’s Kalyanam was conducted with priests from Jiyar Educational Trust. About 1000 devotees attended the early morning wedding ceremony of Lord Venkatesha.

On the evening of Day 3, Actress Trisha was the star attraction and has interacted with her fans and performed on stage responding to requests from the audience to dance to one of her songs. In a sign of the positive effects of the success of the joint convention by ATA and TATA, Dr. Prem Sagar Reddy, a long time friend of Mr Hanmanth Reddy and Dr Pailla Malla Reddy, has hinted that there may be a Joint Convention between ATA,NATA and TATA. The announcement was received with cheers from the 5000 audience sitting in the packed auditorium.

The public acceptance and support of the joint convention was evident, when the Convention center management had to turn down entry for  over 2000 people, as the auditorium with capacity of 5,000 was packed to its capacity.

Asked about the secret of their success in conducting the event in just 6 weeks,  the Joint Executive Committee, comprising of Karunakar AsiReddy, Dr. Haranth Policherla, Ajay Reddy, Vikram Janagam, Raghuveer Bandaru, Arvind Muppidi, Bharath Madadi, Satish Reddy, Jyothi Reddy, Kiran Reddy Pasham, Mahesh Adibhatla, Mohan Patlolla, Dheeraj Akula and Srinivas Anugu responsible for the execution of the event, said,  more than 36 committees and 400 volunteers have worked around the clock to make the event successful. They said, that, the teams worked seamlessly, helping each other above and beyond their defined roles.

The Joint Advisory Council, led by Mr. Hanmanth Reddy, Mr. Pailla Malla Reddy, Dr. Vijayapal Reddy, Dr. Haranath Policherla, Dr. Sandhya Gavva and Mr. Srinivas Pinnapu Reddy have conveyed their gratitude for the donors for their generosity and the local and non local Telugu Community for their support for the historic effort of a joint convention.

The American Telugu Convention team has expressed their sincere appreciation for the media insitutions for their support in spreading the message and rallying the support of the Telugu Community across the world for the bold exercise.

The success of the American Telugu Convention has given a new hope for many more joint conventions and the Telugu Community will gladly welcome it