Nara Lokesh vs Priyank Kharge online slugfest continues over investments, debt
Amaravati: Another bout of social media war erupted between the IT Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Karnataka, Nara Lokesh and Priyank Kharge, over investments and debt.
In a recent post on X, Lokesh said, “They say Andhra food is spicy. Seems some of our investments are too. Some neighbours are already feeling the burn!” he said, adding that the rising ‘youngest state’ of India has bagged the highest investment.
By saying the highest investment, he referred to the recent USD 15 billion Google AI data centres investment commitment in the port city of Vizag, which was inked amid pomp and fanfare in New Delhi.
Also Read | Nara Lokesh turns Andhra Pradesh vs Karnataka investment feud ‘spicy’: ‘Neighbours feeling burn’
In a veiled retort on X, Priyank Kharge said, “Everyone enjoys a bit of spice in their food, but just as nutritionists recommend a balanced diet, economists too advocate a balanced budget. The neighbour’s total liabilities have now ballooned to nearly ₹10 lakh crore.”
According to the Congress-ruled Karnataka IT Minister, Andhra Pradesh has borrowed ₹1.61 lakh crore in just one year under the N Chandrababu Naidu-led NDA alliance government.
Further, he highlighted that Andhra Pradesh’s revenue deficit to GSDP “worsened”, rising from 2.6 per cent to 3.6 per cent.
Whatever said and done, we will always be: “Neighbour’s envy and Owner’s pride”, said Kharge, alluding to the publicity caption of an old advertisement of a TV brand.
Also Read | Nara Lokesh claims Andhra is a double engine bullet train
Recently, Kharge assailed his Andhra Pradesh counterpart’s attempts to woo Bengaluru-based startups and firms disgruntled over infrastructure into his state as ‘desperate scavenging’ and even hinted that it was a parasitic behaviour.
In the earlier round of online slugfest on micro-blogging site X, the IT Ministers of both the neighbouring states traded barbs, especially over Lokesh’s attempts to woo companies, starting with BlackBuck, a logistics startup.
Also Read | Tech tug-of-war: Priyank Kharge slams Nara Lokesh’s pitch to woo Bengaluru firms
When Rajesh Yabaji from BlackBuck had tweeted recently that it was getting ‘very very hard to continue’ operating from Bellandur in Bengaluru, Lokesh swooped in to lure him to relocate to Vizag.