To mark the 12th year of its formation, Chhattisgarh began a week-long festival, Rajyotsava, on Thursday. Being held at the new capital, Naya Raipur, the festival was inaugurated by BJP president Nitin Gadkari. It will host Global Investors’ Meet on November 2 and 3. As nearly 400 companies are expected to participate, Chief Minister M Raman Singh has taken a major policy decision of not allowing companies in power and coal sectors. “We have enough projects in energy and coal. We will form MoUs only with companies that bring more employment and build human resources. We are looking for investment in sectors like IT, solar energy and food processing,” Singh said. The move is significant as the state government had been facing flak over signing MoUs with companies in power sector without caring about environment and local concerns. Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation is expecting investment proposals worth around Rs 1 lakh crore as major groups like Sahara, Essar, Jindal, Vedanta, Videocon are participating in the meet, besides representatives from Argentina, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Kuwait. The event is facing criticism from farmers who have been fighting a battle in Bilaspur HC with the government over alleged forcible acquisition here. They had threatened to hold dharnas at the Rajyotsava but decided to put off the agitation till November 3 after an assurance by Agriculture Minister Chandrashekhar Sahu. The Congress has called for a boycott of the inauguration of Rajyotsava. Kareena evokes poetry from J’khand CM The event, Rajyotsava, was meant to showcase the best of Chhattisgarh as it turned 12 years old but the star attraction was Kareena Kapoor. So much were the netas enamoured by her performance that it evoked spontaneous poetry from the special guest Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda. In words that alluded to both Kareena and to the brief spell of rain that lashed Naya Raipur on the evening, Munda broke into verse from the stage, “Ye bhige badan mein tera muskurana, bijlee ke mausam mein bijlee girana...” Other leaders including chief minister Raman Singh and BJP president. Nitin Gadkari cheered him. Meanwhile, Culture Minister Brijmohan Agarwal appealed to the crowd, “Kareena jald aapko darshan dengi”. Leaders arrived at the function just before Kareena came and left immediately after she left the stage.