Chiranjeevi to be star attraction at Telugu convention

New York, July 26 (UNI) Top actor Chiranjeevi will be among the galaxy of film personalities to be present at a Telugu conference being held in California later this week.

According to the organisers, others from the Telugu film industry scheduled to attend the three-day convention -- beginning on June 30 at Long Beach, a city southwest of Los Angeles -- include Ravi Teja, Srikanth and Tabu.

Music director Mani Sharma will hold a concert at the convention, which ends on July 2.

About 50 people from India, particularly from Andhra Pradesh, will participate in the meet.

Known officially as the Ninth American Telugu Association (ATA) Conference and Youth Convention, it is the first time such a major gathering is being held in the Los Angeles region.

Literary contests, music and dance programmes, seminars on health and family issues and other group discussions of interest to the second-generation Indian-Americans will take place at the convention.

''Many of our programmes are geared towards encouraging local American Telugu talent, and are intended to propagate the language and culture among our people here,'' convention publicity and public relations wing head Krishna Kanth Kotagiri told UNI in a telephone interview from California.

Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker K R Suresh Reddy and Pradesh Congress Committee President K Keshava Rao will be among the dignitaries attending the convention in which about 5,000 will take part.

''About 3,500 have already registered themselves and we do expect about 2,000 more,'' Mr Kotarigi said, adding 'authentic' Andhra cuisine will be served to the participants.

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