Respected Governing Body (GB) Members, The reputation of the organization, credibility of the leadership and endurance of the membership is at a low. Member Verification and Election processes were not fair and transparent. Political interference has creeped in to unthinkable levels. The use of organization for personal benefit is rampant. Financial mismanagement is at its best. A part of the TANA membership has split, forming another organization at the national level, with simultaneous and competing conferences scheduled for the same weekend of July 4th, 2009. This all happened under your watch. The responsibility starts and stops with you. The signatures below are ample proof to convey that the membership and larger Telugu community have lost faith in the ability of the current leadership to lead the organization in pursuing its goals and mission. We hope that you honor the sentiments of the community and take credible remedial actions per your conscience. Below are some of the concerns expressed by the membership over the last several months. Membership Verification and Election Process: The process of member verification and elections has not been transparent and fair, and is being done holding personal interests of some within the GB, above the organization. Below are some of the member conclusions. 1. The member verification list was not handled by an independent group but by some within the elected body with direct or indirect stake in the current elections. 2. The list of members to be verified included members who did not qualify per the guidelines given by the BOT. This raises doubts about the validity of the list. 3. Disqualification of supposedly fraudulent members only from the elections and not invalidating the membership is highly questionable, raising doubts about the real intent of the process. 4. There were instances where selective prospective candidates had the list of members that received the verification letter. We should mention that the said list was not the one published on the website. 5. Till date, the results of the verification process haven’t been published. It is very vital that the final list of eligible members was published before the announcement of elections. 6. On multiple occasions, the membership as well as UnitedTANA raised concerns and have been asking for more transparency and third party verification. Feedback was also provided for, when requested, but was not given any consideration. Various attempts to communicate with the Verification committee/GB/EC were ignored blatantly. 7. The verification committee, in spite of requests from other GB members did not reply to any of the questions raised by the membership. This leads us to believe that the committee was predetermined to unilaterally carry out the process irrespective of member concerns, for their personal benefit. 8. Members (in the verification list) who wanted to file nomination did not know if they are deemed valid or invalid. 9. Members who have submitted documentation proving their credentials are also excluded from the voting. No reason was provided as to why such members are omitted. 10. Pressures were exerted, including political interference, upon some potential nominees in order to not let them file nominations or compel candidates to withdraw nominations so that the elections, for the large part, go unopposed. The enticements also included giving the contestants nominated positions at a later stage. 11. Democracy in the organization is being throttled by some in the GB as well as influential ex-office bearers with the help of their political friends. It is noticed that undue social, family and political pressures are being exerted to discourage prospective contestants in the current elections. President removal and reinstatement: The process of removing/reinstating the President is filled with questionable actions and intent. There is no rationale till date as to why he was removed and now reinstated. Below are some of the member conclusions. 1. The Governing Body (GB) acted in haste and self-interest by unilaterally concluding that the president had done irrevocable damage to the organization and taking the extraordinary and unprecedented step of removing him (without input from the general body). 2. The GB as well as the President consistently resisted and rejected all initiatives by elders, senior members and well-wishers of the organization, to bring about a compromise. 3. The leadership further went to court (citing numerous counts of wrongdoing) against the President, resulting in huge expenditure to the organization. The President also went public with various allegations against the current leadership. 4. Now that the President is reinstated, members are confused as to what and whose allegations are true. Also, the settlement agreements between the President and the GB aren’t disclosed yet. Thus. It appears that the only winners in this whole fiasco are the personal interests of the GB and the President whereas the reputation, financial state and the membership of the organization are the big losers. 5. Not withstanding the various attempts of the well-wishers of the organization, this fiasco (caused by the GB/President) resulted in the organization breaking up with the establishment of North American Telugu Society. Additionally, a competing conference is scheduled for the same weekend as the TANA conference. 6. Several local Telugu bodies have also split up directly because of this unwarranted infighting among the TANA leadership. 7. Therefore, the so-called UNITY that the GB and the President claim to have achieved, by the President’s reinstatement, is a big lie. 8. The GB might have reinstated the President subject to withdrawal of the court cases against the organization’s leadership, leading us to believe there are some skeletons in the cupboard that the leadership does not want the members to know about. 9. The membership is outraged as to why the President is reinstated if he committed illegal activities that hurt the organization (per the GB’s own words) or if the President was innocent, then as to why the 20 GB members (who voted for his removal) are still holding positions after falsely accusing the president of wrongdoing.

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