Political storm brewing in AP over missing WEF Davos meet

Chief Minister, though received invite to attend Davos meet in November, decided not to attend due to attention being given to make Global Investors' Summit being organised in Visakhapatnam on March 3 and 4

Visakhapatnam: The YSRCP Government in Andhra Pradesh is in the centre of a political storm with Telugu Desam Party questioning as to why none was deputed to the annual investment conclave of World Economic Forum being held at Davos in Switzerland.

TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh and politburo member Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao said with the denting of image of the State Government due to what they termed 'dismal investment climate' none is coming forward to set up any project in Andhra Pradesh. While Lokesh sought a white paper on investments made so far through a tweet, Uma insisted on an explanation for not going to Davos.

The TDP leaders alleged that while Telangana was attracting huge investments at Davos with the participation of Industries and IT Minister KT Rama Rao and senior IAS officer Jayesh Ranjan, the Andhra Pradesh Government, due to reasons known to it, had decided to not attend it.

During the conclave held at Davos in May last year, a high-level team led by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy flew to Switzerland, MoUs worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore mostly on green energy were signed. The agreements were signed with Greenko, Adani and Aurobindo Groups for which 20 locations were identified to develop green energy projects to generate 30,000 MW.

The Chief Minister, who presided over a session on startups at the previous edition of Davos conclave, had called for making Visakhapatnam into a unicorn hub and highlighted the State government's endeavour to promote decarbonised economy in a big way.

Dismissing the propaganda by the TDP as attempts to gain cheap publicity through a section of media, Minister for Industries and Commerce said the Chief Minister though received invite to attend Davos meet in November, decided not to attend due to attention being given to make Global Investors' Summit (GIS) being organised in Visakhapatnam on March 3 and 4.

He said their plan is to bring all those who are attending the present round of WEF meeting and those who could not, to Visakhapatnam by showcasing the investment potential of Andhra Pradesh in multiple areas.

The government, which is preparing to hold several overseas roadshows, will seek investments in port-led development, food processing industries, logistics, electric vehicles, green energy, hardware and electronics manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, defence engineering and new age technologies like artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Amarnath alleged that TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu had failed to bring any investment worth the name to Andhra Pradesh when he was in power during 2014-19. Despite challenges posed by prolonged spell of pandemic, the State could attract annually on average investments worth Rs 15,000 crore with projects envisaging investment of Rs 1.70 lakh crore in the pipeline.

Stating that they believed in realistic investments, he said during the TDP regime, four editions of Partnership Summits were organised claiming MoUs with an investment of Rs 18 lakh crore but only a few could be grounded.