Bengaluru’s infrastructure is often the talk of the town and once again, it has made the headlines after the Andhra Pradesh minister called out the same while quoting an X post, and took the opportunity to mention an industrial city in his state. Reacting to a journalist’s post which mentioned data on how many companies and startups are choosing north Bengaluru’s Whitefield area to set up their offices instead of south Bengaluru.

The reasons being traffic congestion at outer ring road in south Bengaluru and infrastructure mess. Reposting it, Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh said the north could be better for companies, and mentioned Andhra town Anantapur suggesting the firms to shift their locations to the nearby state. 

“North sounds good. Slightly more north is Anantapur.. where we are building a world class aerospace and defence ecosystem!” the minister’s post added.

ALSO READ

Karnataka minister responds

Three hours later, Karnataka IT-BT minister, Priyank Kharge slammed Nara Lokesh in an X post, calling the attempt “desperate scavenging”. He said the statement of the Andhra minister depicts “more weakness than strength”. He said the IT city’s GDP is projected to grow at a significant 8.5% until 2035, positioning it as the “world’s fastest-growing city”.

“Bengaluru’s property market will rise by 5% in 2025. Savills Growth Hubs Index states, we are set to outpace global counterparts in terms of urbanisation, economic growth, and innovation by 2033,” the minister added.

He mentioned that the urban agglomeration of Bengaluru is estimated to have approx. 14.40 million people in 2025, with an annual growth rate around 2.76 %.

“We are one of the highest migrant absorption cities in India,” he said, adding “The Government is and will continue to build infrastructure for the rapid growth we are experiencing.”

Kharge didn’t stop there, he called out Nara Lokesh and referred to him as a “parasite” without exactly naming the creature and by just mentioning its function. 

“BTW, what is an organism that lives in or on an organism of another species and benefits by deriving nutrients at the other’s expense called?” he concluded. 

ALSO READ

Nara’s repeated X requests to companies

This is not the first time Nara Lokesh made any such move to invite companies to Andhra Pradesh. Last month, he asked BlackBuck founder Rajesh Yabaji to visit Visakhapatnam, when the latter announced moving out from the ORR after nine years as sustaining there was quite difficult. 

“Hi Rajesh, can I interest you in relocating your company to Vizag? We are rated among top 5 cleanest cities in India, are building best-in-class infra, and have been rated the safest city for women. Please send me a DM,” the minister added. 

A week later, quoting a post by a startup CEO on ORR infra, he said, “Happy to help! Our offer on #Vizag still holds! Join us for the Govt. of AP–CII Partnership Summit on 14–15 Nov ’25 and experience the charm of this wonderful city. Registrations opening soon,” Lokesh posted.

Earlier, on September 17, Lokesh directly invited BlackBuck co-founder Rajesh Yabaji-who had announced plans to exit Bengaluru’s ORR-to move operations to Visakhapatnam. “Hi Rajesh, can I interest you in relocating your company to Vizag? We are rated among the top five cleanest cities in India, are building best-in-class infrastructure, and have been rated the safest city for women. Please send me a DM,” he said in the post.