Epaper
Over the last weekend, Mr. Prabhakara Chowdary Kakarala (Texas) and Mr. Madala Ravi (Florida) gave joint appearances in Flint, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois. In Flint Dr. Mukkamala, TANA founding member, hosted the 120 member gathering at his house in Grand Blanc. In Chicago, Mr. Kakarala and Mr. Madala were greeted by 35 members in local Priya Restaurant. Though the meetings were held in two different places, the content was mostly the same. Through these meetings, Mr. Kakarala tried to legitimize his claim as reinstated TANA president; Mr. Madala explained his involvement, experience and his lawsuit against TANA.
Mr. Kakarala, in his speech, mentioned that he wanted to reform TANA and complained that except 3, none of the GB members cooperated towards his efforts. He added that he had to live with the same attitude in all three TANA boards – TANA EC, Board of Trustees and Foundation Board. Though he reluctantly agreed to move the conference from Florida to Chicago, he claimed that he brokered a compromising deal with Chicago community. Through this deal, as requested by the Florida Community, he has granted key Chicago TANA conference positions to people from all over United States. He said that TANA GB has strongly objected granting positions to those members who filed lawsuit against TANA. Mr. Kakarala criticized TANA board for demanding the with drawl of lawsuit and sadly said that this demand disrupted the compromise. He affirmed the attendees that a unified conference in Florida will surely keep the organization together.
Mr. Madala Ravi mentioned that he was generally aware of TANA and started taking active part since 2005. Since his involvement in the organization, he observed few unpleasant situations and wanted to take serious corrective measures. He stressed that since December 2007, TANA didn’t respond to his repeated legal notices requesting some key documents and had no choice but to proceed with a legal action against the organization. Mr. Kakarala, though was the President of TANA at that time and directly received all the legal notices, echoed Mr. Madala’s lawsuit reasons and stated that GB didn’t cooperate with him in producing the documents in response to those legal notices. Mr. Madala claimed that he has spent his personal money of 800,000 US Dollars towards this law suit thus far and criticized TANA Governing Board for spending organization’s money for filing counter lawsuits against Mr. Kakarala. He said that he will fight until all his issues are addressed. Few attendees praised Mr. Madala for spending such amounts of his fortune for public cause.
The joint appearances were received with mixed feelings at both places. Few senior members suggested that other means must have been explored to access the documents rather than filing expensive lawsuits. Concerns were expressed that moving the conference to Florida may keep few people happy , but certainly won’t solve the true and real issues. Also, the attendees questioned about the penalties to be paid to Chicago Convention Center. Few suggested better use for the money and brought up the tragic incidents faced by few Telugus in USA recently. Based on the questions asked, it can be observed that people are more interested in the well being of the organization rather than the silly fights in the name of titles and law suits.
December 8th is the next big day for TANA. Houston Judge may deliver his final verdict in the TANA’s case or may order for a jury trial.
– A. Modepally
