N. Chandrababu Naidu

HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu has announced that the NTR National Award will be given away by the party at its `Mahanadu' to be held in Tirupati towards the month-end, apparently piqued by the `Government's lack of interest in continuing the award.

At a press conference here on Sunday, he regretted that there was a break of four years in giving away the award in memory of a leader who brought recognition to Telugus the world over, apart from giving a new definition to coalition politics by creating a non-Congress alternative. He said that a three-member committee had been constituted with Dadasaheb Phalke awardee and thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Jnanpeeth awardee C. Narayana Reddy and film producer D.V.S. Raju to select the recipients for the last four years.

Mr. Naidu agreed that even while the TDP was in power, there had been a break of a year in giving the award for purely logistic and administrative reasons. He went hammer and tongs against the Congress for not announcing the award for the last fours and for christening the International airport in the name of Rajiv Gandhi after the previous regime decided to name it after N.T.Rama Rao.

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