The ruling TDP is understood to have decided to go slow on organising protests over the “meagre” allocation of funds in the Union Budget for 2018-19 in view of the importance being attached to the CII Partnership Summit and Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet slated for February 24 to 26.
The three-day summit, being hosted in the APIIC grounds at Harbour Park, will see the participation of Ministers from 17 countries and over 1,000 delegates representing 32 countries.
“This is mainly not to send wrong signals to the investors from across the world to start various ventures in our State,” a TDP leader told The Hindu on condition of anonymity.
Railway zone
He said the main demand of the region to grant a railway division with headquarters in Visakhapatnam was also under advanced stage of consideration, he pointed out. Any protests at this juncture will certainly impact the sentiments of the investors. The protest staged by YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at the apron of the Visakhapatnam International Airport a day before the second edition of the CII Partnership Summit last year drew strong condemnation by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and others. Mr. Reddy was denied permission by the police when he landed along with his party colleagues at the airport to take part in a candlelight march to press for Special Category Status. BJP city president M. Nagendra said the zone issue was under active consideration of the authorities concerned.
