Nara Lokesh takes 'burn' jab at Karnataka over Google investment deal

Hyderabad: Riding high on the momentum of Google’s $15 billion investment announcement in Andhra Pradesh, the state’s IT Minister Nara Lokesh has continued to take jabs at neighbouring states particularly Karnataka.

“They say Andhra food is spicy. Seems some of our investments are too. Some neighbours are already feeling the burn!” Lokesh quipped in a social media post, alluding to the growing contest among southern states to attract large-scale technology investments.

On Wednesday while talking to reporters in Amaravati, Lokesh sharpened his remarks, saying inefficiency in other states was not his concern.

“If they (other states) are inefficient, what can I do? They should focus on fixing what their investors have been asking for. If they have pothole-ridden roads and frequent power cuts, they should concentrate on addressing those issues. I am here to attract investments for my state, and I will do it aggressively,” he said.

The IT minister clarified that he was not interested in social media spats or turning such issues into political slugfests in an indirect reference to his recent online exchange with Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge.

“My focus is solely on bringing investments to Andhra Pradesh,” Lokesh added.

Lokesh was also indirectly responding to recent complaints by industrialists in Karnataka about Bengaluru’s deteriorating road conditions.

Speaking about Andhra’s major investment win, he remarked, “We are the only double-engine, bullet-train sarkar in India, working with a mission to drive development in our state and make India proud.”

Lokesh’s latest comments come weeks after he extended an invitation to Bengaluru-based online trucking platform BlackBuck to shift operations to Visakhapatnam. The offer followed company co-founder Rajesh Yabaji’s public criticism of Bengaluru’s crumbling infrastructure.

In a post on X, Yabaji said his team had decided to vacate their office in Bellandur on Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road (ORR) after nine years, citing poor infrastructure and commute times and. “ORR (Bellandur) has been our ‘office + home’ for the last nine years. But it’s now very, very hard to continue here. We have decided to move out,” he wrote, adding that employees were spending over 1.5 hours on one-way commutes through pothole-filled, dusty roads.

Yabaji also accused the local government of showing the “lowest intent to get them rectified” and expressed little optimism about improvements “in the next five years.”

Responding swiftly, Lokesh replied on X, “Can I interest you in relocating your company to Vizag? We are rated among the top five cleanest cities in India, are building world-class infrastructure, and have been recognized as one of the safest cities for women. Please send me a DM.”

It was unclear whether Yabaji responded to the invitation. However, the exchange quickly caught public attention when Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge joined the conversation, sparking a spirited regional debate that dominated tech circles for days.

This was not the first time Nara Lokesh reached out to Karnataka’s tech community. In July last year, shortly after the TDP-led NDA government assumed office in Andhra Pradesh, Lokesh publicly invited IT companies from Bengaluru to consider setting up operations in Andhra Pradesh. His outreach came in response to the Karnataka government’s proposal to introduce job reservations for Kannadigas in the private sector, a policy that had generated unease among sections of the IT industry.

Since taking charge as IT minister, Lokesh has positioned Andhra Pradesh as a competitive destination for technology and manufacturing investments, leveraging the state’s robust infrastructure, abundant renewable energy sources, and business-friendly policies.