AP CM skips Davos as poll fever catches up

Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has cancelled his proposed visit to Davos in a last minute decision due to political reasons. He was to participate in the World Economic Forum meeting being held on 19-20 January at Davos.

The state officials informed the Indian high commission in Switzerland about the cancellation only on Saturday, one day before the commencement of the tour. The authorities have attributed this sudden change to the NDA government's fast moves for early elections to Lok Sabha besides other compulsions arising out of the proposed early polls to Assembly.

A senior official said it had not yet been decided whether to send a team headed by a minister to Davos in the chief minister's absence. Others may not be allowed to participate in key deliberations at Davos as Naidu alone carries the membership of WEF, he added.

Naidu has so far participated in four WEF meetings at Davos since 1996 after he became the chief minister. He utilised the opportunity to impress upon the big industrialists to invest in AP , especially in the IT sector.

Major companies like Microsoft, Oracle, HP have started their operations in AP only after the chief minister's consultations with their chiefs at Davos. Even the proposals for a Volksvagen unit at Vizag and Formula One project at Hyderabad have their origins at Davos.