The Hindu : Things hot up at Mahanadu venue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Things hot up at Mahanadu venue

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI May 27. It looked as if `Srinivasa Pranganam', the venue of the TDP Mahanadu was right under the nose of the sun.

The massive tin sheet-roofed structure erected for the delegates' sessions could barely provide any succour to party leaders as it gave in to the scorching sun, even as the heatwave swept the venue with all ferocity. With the mercury level going beyond the 46 degree Celsius mark, the visiting delegates had to taste the radiation effect in the temple town canopied by the Tirumala hills.

Even as the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, was delivering his inaugural address that ran for two full hours, the impatient delegates were busy scampering for water bottles and buttermilk sachets that were being supplied. But for the first half an hour, which Mr. Naidu dedicated to heaping lavish praise on the party founder, N.T. Rama Rao, and his effort to spread the `Telugu self-respect' to the North, the delegates appeared more keen on cooling themselves from the blistering heat rather than lending an ear to the abundant statistics reeled out by the Mr. Naidu in his usual style.

The main hall and the huge dining hall came crashing down yesterday afternoon with a sudden gale that appeared from nowhere, forcing the event managers, led by the district Minister, B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, to repeat the mammoth exercise even till a few hours before the mega event started. As the work done in a fortnight could in no case be repeated in a few hours at their disposal, the organisers worked throughout the night focussing on core areas so as not to inconvenience the delegates.

A reasonably nice job had gone into the resurrection of most of the ravaged structures in a surprisingly short time, which drew laurels from none other than Mr. Naidu himself in his address. However, the aftermath of the nature's fury was too conspicuous to be missed during the lunch session. The makeshift dining hall erected adjacent to the yesterday's wreckage -which could have been more spacious and airy -- could not quite accommodate all the delegates, who were forced to run for rice and scurry for curry. But for the timely intervention by the catering team led by the Puttur MLA, R. Rajasekhara Reddy, the dining hall would have witnessed even more chaos.

As a security measure and to avoid disturbance, jammers were installed at the venue that made all cellphones go silent. As the media centre too was not spared, the journalists were forced to rush out to make calls. All the workers and volunteers were provided with a bar-coded identity card and were seen swiping it in the slot provided at the entrance.

With all roads leading to Tirupati for the D-day, the pilgrims visiting the temple town for the summer vacations too were affected. The old town area encompassing the east railway station and central bus station remained clogged for hours together. The late arrival of trains from Hyderabad carrying most of the delegates, party workers and mediapersons added to the confusion as the crowd further scattered on the roads up to the venue.

The devotees bound for Tiruchanur, the abode of goddess Padmavathi, were the worst hit as they were forced to take a detour as the Mahanadu venue falls on this very road.

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