Telugu Community leaders from Chicago met with the TANA Governing Board at a Town Hall meeting on Sunday, October 26 at the O’Hare Hyatt in Rosemont to discuss the preparations for the 17th TANA Conference to be held at the Rosemont Convention Center on July 2-4, 2009. The Town Hall meeting was chaired by Jayaram Komati, the Interim President of TANA and included the TANA Governing Board members and Yugandhar Yadlapati, Coordinator of the 17th TANA Conference.

Many local community leaders and volunteers including Azad Sunkavalli, Bhaskar Reddy Karri, Bharathi Chukkapalli, Ganesh Mallampati, Hema Kanuru, Jagadish Kanuru, Kasi Paturi, Kotiswamy Gorantla, Krishna Adusumilli, Krishna Chitturi, Mahesh Kakarala, Murali Meraga, Narayana Meduri, Padmaja Sonti, Phani Ramineni, Praveen Moturi, Ramaraja Yalavarti, Rao Veeramachaneni, Ratna Garapati, Ravi Achanta, Siva Chowdary, Sriram Sonty, Subbarao Uppuluri, Sudha and Ravi Yalamanchi, Syam Aribindi, Umapathi Reddy Cattamanchi, and Veeraswamy Achanta expressed their views regarding the current crisis in TANA at the national level and the conducting of the 17th TANA Conference in Chicago.

After a long and thorough discussion of the issues, the participants at the meeting came to a consensus on the composition of the Steering Committee for the 17th Conference at Chicago. The Steering Committee would meld the experience and wisdom of the older generation and the energy, enthusiasm and innovation of the younger generation. All the participants resolved to put forward their best efforts to working towards unity at the national level with the unity at the local level setting an example to the national leaders.

The meeting ended on a highly positive note with all the participants vowing to make the 17th TANA Conference at Chicago to be the best ever Telugu Conference in North America. “Geographically, Rosemont convention center in Chicago is very ideally located within driving distance for many neighboring states and we are expecting more than 15,000 people at this convention. Several hotels have been reserved already for guests expecting from various cities and countries. Mr. Yugandhar Yadlapati, Conference Coordinator and his team are very busy in making needed preparations for this mega conference. This will be one of a kind memorable conference and everyone is eagerly waiting to participate in” said, Jayaram Komati, TANA (interim) President.