The high-profile and much-publicised 30th CII-Partnership Summit took off in a grand manner at Visakhapatnam with several investors from across the world descending on the port city to sign agreements with the Andhra Pradesh government headed by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
While signing of MoUs or presence of foreign delegates has hit the headlines, one did not miss the conspicuous absence of Jana Sena Party president and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan at the inaugural session.
In fact, the Naidu government did not give any impression that it was ignoring Pawan Kalyan, as the his photograph featured prominently in full-page government advertisements released to the media to mark the event.
At the same time, his Jana Sena Party (JSP) cabinet colleagues – civil supplies minister Nadendla Manohar and tourism minister Kandula Durgesh did attend the summit. Yet, Pawan’s absence has become a talking point among the media at the event.
It is speculated that though Naidu Pawan Kalyan preferred to stay away from the mega event, as he has nothing to do with the investments and was concerned only about panchayat raj, environment and forests.
If that is the case, it was surprising why Pawan Kalyan asked Nadendla Manohar to attend the event, as civil supplies department has nothing to do with investments attraction.
At least Durgesh’s presence has some reasoning, as there are some tourism-related projects to be projected at the meeting.
“Definitely, Naidu would have invited Pawan Kalyan to the Vizag summit, but the latter has his own reasons to keep away. Maybe, he thought he did not want to me one among the other cabinet colleagues, as the delegates would be showering praises on Naidu and Lokesh, which he might feel inconvenient,” an analyst said.
Yet, when several prominent leaders like Vice President of India C P Radhakrishnan and Union commerce minister Piyush Goel attended the event, Pawan Kalyan would have definitely get the attention of the global industry leaders and it would also reflect the collective leadership of the government.
“In fact, it would also help Pawan Kalyan get an understanding of how such global events would help the state. His presence would have fetched him recognition among the global investors in the coming years when he grows big in the government,” the analyst added.
