Telangana Formation Day celebrated with gaiety and fervor

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CHICAGO, Il

The American Telangana Association (ATA) celebrated 3rd Telangana Formation Day at Ramada Inn Banquet hall, in Glendale Heights, IL recently. More than 500 Telugu families and people originally from Telengana came from all over the United States for the event.

A new board was appointed and new office-bearers were elected, and discussions held to finalize the location for the upcoming 2nd Telangana World conference, which will be held in Houston, Texas Sept. 9, 2018.

Satyanarayana Kandimalla was sworn as president, Karunakar Madhavaram was unanimously elected as chairman. Vinod Kuknoor was unanimously elected as president-elect. Bangar Reddy Aaloori was unanimously elected as Convener for the Convention.

The 3rd Telangana Formation Day Event was kicked off with a welcome address by Narendar Chemarla.  Lighting of the lamp ceremony was conducted by Satyanarayana Kandimalla, Karunakar Madhavaram, Vinod Kukunoor, Bangar Reddy and Srinivas Reddy Gajji which was followed by a Ganesh prayer by Teja and Abhigna, according to a press release . Two minutes of silence was observed by the guests in remembrance of founding fathers Madhava Reddy Bobbili, Telangana State water board advisor Vidya Sagar Rao, and veteran Congress leader and Rajyasabha member Palwai Govardhan Reddy.

Cultural performances included folk, Tollywood, Bollywood songs by local talent. The musical night was led by renowned singer in Chicagoland, Praveen Jaligama, as well as singer Janardhan from Atlanta, and Mani Raju and Madhu Gandhi from Columbus, Ohio. A special dance was performed by David who came from Columbus, Ohio. ATA team recognized all the performers with plaques and certificates. Children shone with their cultural performance.

The outgoing President, Rammohan Konda, handed over the gavel to the incoming President, Satyanarayana Kandimalla. The new board took the oath to protect the organization’s constitution, bylaws, and promote its vision and mission. The new Board unanimously elected the following office bearers are Vishnu Madhavaram (Secretary), Prathap Chintalapani (Treasurer), Raghuveer Maripeddi (Joint Secretary) and Mahidhar Reddy (Joint Treasure).

After electing new office bearers the board elected Vinod Kukunoor as president-elect and Karunakar Madhavaram as chairman of the Board of Directors (July-2017 to Dec-2020). The Board also appointed Narendar Chemarla as executive director and Anil Dhannapuneni as national coordinator. The new board discussed the Agenda for the next two years on ATA activities. In his inaugural speech, President Kandimalla thanked the outgoing board and EC for their efforts in transforming the organization into one of the most dynamic and vibrant national organizations in the country.

Bangar Reddy along with Texas hosting team thanked the board for the opportunity and welcomed everyone to the Convention. An amount of $500,000 was raised for the convention on the spot out of which $200,000 was raised from Houston by Sreedhar Kanchanakuntla, board of trustee.
The next board meeting will be held in the Convention City, Houston, on September 9th 2018.