CII summit falls victim to Mamata-Centre split

The Centre has decided to shift the venue of its annual Global Partnership Summit 2013, an event jointly organised between the commerce ministry and the Confederation of Indian Industry, from Kolkata to Agra in Uttar Pradesh, in what could be a prelude of losses for Bengal.

Union commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma has written to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to confirm Agra as the new venue for the international investor summit.

“The Commerce ministry along with CII is organising the event. The ministry decides on the venue. Business persons, finance minister and leaders from across the world are participating in the event. This is for the first time Uttar Pradesh will be hosting the event,” Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of CII said.

The shift of the venue is being seen as a fallout of the TMC's withdrwal of support from centre. The state government has already started to cry foul over the issue. According to sources in CII, the Centre is hesitant to organise the event in Kolkata due to her anti-industry image and stance against FDI in retail.

“Anand Sharma is the chairman of this event. Last year, he came here and promised that the global meet will be organised here. People of Bengal will not take this in the right sense. If this is due to recent political developments, we know how to go about it,” West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee said.

Last year, Anand Sharma along with major industrialists had a meeting with the chief minister at Writers’ Building and Sharma announced the event was scheduled for Kolkata after the event.

“In order to expand trade relations with ASEAN countries. West Bengal has huge trade potential. In January 2013, the Global Partnership Summit, which attracts captains of industries from all over the world, will be held in Kolkata,” Sharma had said.