VISAKHAPATNAM: The ambitious plans of Andhra Pradesh government to use the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) conference as an opportunity to showcase the potential of Visakhapatnam as the much-favoured destination for investments were shattered with only about 30 foreign delegates turning up for the workshop Wednesday.
A majority of the delegates at the workshop on ‘Parliament and Media Law’ were from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, besides a few Parliament members and legislators from other states. While not entirely a damp squib, the workshop proved to be a mediocre affair with a low turnout of domestic and foreign delegates whose total number did not exceed 100.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, too, arrived at the venue more than 30 minutes after the scheduled inauguration, forcing the delegates to wait. A few delegates confessed that the arrangements, too, were not up to the mark.
“The delegates included Parliamentarians and legislators from different Commonwealth nations as well as different states of India, but priority was given to those hailing from Telugu-speaking states. We were given secondary treatment,” lamented one of the legislators, who attended the workshop from a South Indian state.
Delegates attending the workshop represented Sri Lanka, Ghana, Maldives, Victoria, Northern Territory, South Australia, Malta, Guernsey, British Columbia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Samoa, and Johor (Malaysia) along with the states of India including Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Gujarat, Sikkim, Delhi, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Telangana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Mizoram and Maharashtra.