Netas on US jaunt, AP cab nearly empty

HYDERABAD: Though it is the United States of America that should be celebrating the weekend starting July 4, which happens to be its Independence Day, AP ministers seem to be celebrating. At last count, at least half-a-dozen AP ministers are in the US to take part in the festivities organised by Telugu Indian American associations.
After chief minister Chandrababu Naidu accompanied by finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and municipal administration minister P Narayana left for the Japan tour on Saturday night, the majority of the AP cabinet is out of the country for another week or so.
Several TDP leaders, including the ministers, are in Detroit to take part in the ongoing 20th conference of Telugu Association of North America (TANA), followed by celebrations of North America Telugu Society (NATS) in Los Angeles. Festivities will go on till July 9.
The five cabinet ministers who are in Detroit, Michigan, and later will be at Los Angeles, California, are Palle Raghunath Reddy (IT and minority welfare), Ch Ayyannapatrudu (panchayat raj), Paritala Sunita (civil supplies), Kamineni Srinivas (medical and health) and Ganta Srinivasa Rao (human resources development). Labour minister K Atchannaidu too, was scheduled to visit the US for the same reason but dropped out last minute for undisclosed reasons.
Apart from these ministers, speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao is already in the US to attend the same events. Other ruling party functionaries in the US include TDP MLAs Nandamuri Balakrishna, Bonda Uma Maheswar Rao, MP Thota Narasimham, and party leaders Pitani Satyanarayana and Kuna Ravi Kumar. APIIC chairman P Krishnaiah is also in Detroit. All of them are stated to return to the state by July 7-10.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that principal secretaries PV Ramesh (finance), A Giridhar (municipal administration and urban development), Ajay Jain (energy) and Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) commissioner N Srikanth had also accompanied Naidu in his Japan trip.