NEW JERSEY: Senator Frank Lautenberg, Congressman Frank Pallone, and NJ State Senator Bob Smith joined the nearly 600 South-Asian Americans gathered to felicitate Upendra J. Chivukula on his fourth consecutive successful bid for the New Jersey General Assembly.

The victory celebration, that raised over $50,000, was held March 1 at the Royal Albert Palace in Fords, New Jersey. Chivukula (D-Somerset) won his fourth consecutive bid for the New Jersey General Assembly from the 17th District of New Jersey in November 2007. He is the only South-Asian American in the state Assembly. He also was the first Franklin resident to be elected to the state legislature in 99 years, when he first ran, and won in 2001.

"I am grateful for, and humbled by the growing support of my community," said Chivukula. "It also is an indication of the increasing awareness and engagement of the community in the political mainstream," he added. Bharat Patel, Treasurer, Campaign Committee, Upendra J. Chivukula for Assembly, and an elected Democratic State Committee Man from Middlesex County, commended the community for being forthcoming in its support of the only elected South Asian-American to the state legislature.

"Upendra is an outstanding representative for the party in general, and for the issues and concerns of South Asians in particular," said Patel. "He is tireless in advancing the interest of the state, his constituents in the 17th District and of the South Asian-American community. He deserves our whole hearted support.

"The event committee comprised Bharat Patel, Narayan Pirlamarla, Alex Koshy, Girish Mehta, Ronak Shah, K.J. Sharma, Nish Parikh, Rajiv Gowda, Sudhakar Perkari and Jaswant Mody. The celebration highlights included honoring South Asians for their professional accomplishments and/or community service.

The honorees included Piyush Patel, Summit Research Labs as Indian Businessman Private Sector 2008; Ronak Shah, Flagship Properties, Young Entrepreneur 2008; Bina Menon, Kalaanjali School of Dance & Music, Cultural Icon 2008; Nitin Gurjar, Tiranga, Indian-American Journalist 2008; Shafqat Khan, Pakistanis for America, Pakistani American Community Activist 2008; Dr. Sudhir Parikh, Publisher, The Indian American, Philanthropist, 2008; John Lau, Businessman, Chinese-American Businessman 2008; Sunil Nayak, Hotelier, Indian-American Community Activist 2008; Kurus Elavia, Gateway Group One, Indian-American Businessman Public Sector 2008; Ravi Shenoy, Shenoy Engineering, P.C. Indian-American Professional 2008.

Chivukula said he was delighted at the growing empowerment of South-Asian Americans in all aspects of American life - political, business, cultural, and community."A driving force in my work as a member of the Democratic party for over ten years, and as a four term member of the state legislature, has been to inspire and help South Asians increase their involvement at the grassroots level, be recognized for their professional and cultural accomplishments and receive greater opportunity for leadership in state government.

"It's gratifying to be part of what I consider to be exciting and challenging times for South-Asian Americans," he added.