After losing heavily in the last assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, it took quite some time for Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu to digest the fact that he was no more the chief minister of the state, as very often in the initial days, he used to behave as if he was still ruling the state.
But it appears his followers in the United States are yet to come out of the hangover of power. They seem to be under the impression that their boss is still in power in Andhra Pradesh. So, they are yet to give up the official tags given to them during the TDP regime.
Take the case of Komati Jayaram, former president of Telugu Association of North America. During the Naidu regime in AP, he used to rule the roost among the Telugus in the US because of his proximity with the then chief minister.
Jayaram had been appointed as the special representative of the Andhra Pradesh government in US and he used to wield power among the Telugus in North America taking advantage of this position. But once Naidu lost the elections miserably, Jayaram, too, lost his glory and also the position.
In his place, the YSR Congress party government appointed Rathnakar Pandugayala, who was the party’s convenor in North America, as the special representative of Andhra Pradesh government in the US.
Ratnakar has been entrusted with the responsibility of liaisoning, coordination, facilitation and assistance to all Government officials and dignitaries of Andhra Pradesh going to North America.
He has also been asked to take up the responsibility for mobilizing financial, technical and human resources from North America for economic, social, cultural and tourism development of Andhra Pradesh.
But it looks like Jayaram continues to pose himself as the AP government’s special representative. His office in California still has the board: “Office of the Special Representative in North America, Government of Andhra Pradesh.”
May be, Telugus who were not aware of the change of guard in the office, are still approaching Jayaram for various works. It is better the Jagan government does something in this regard.
