BENGALURU: Karnataka Minister for Electronics, IT & BT Priyank Kharge and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Nara Lokesh traded barbs on Thursday, after the latter invited companies in Bengaluru to invest
in Anantapur. Citing that startups and firms in Bengaluru were preferring North Bengaluru and Whitefield over crumbling infrastructure on Outer Ring Road, the AP minister for Human Resources Development, IT, Electronics & Communication posted on social media, “North sounds good. Slightly more north is Anantapur... where we are building a world class aerospace and defence ecosystem!”
Taking a jibe at this, Priyank responded, “It is natural for weaker ecosystems to feed off stronger ones. Nothing wrong with that, but when it turns into desperate scavenging, it shows more weakness than strength.”
Noting that Bengaluru’s GDP is projected to grow at a significant 8.5% until 2035, positioning it as the world’s fastest-growing city and the city’s property market will rise by 5% in 2025, Kharge highlighted that “Savills Growth Hubs Index states that we (Bengaluru) are set to outpace global counterparts in terms of urbanisation, economic growth and innovation by 2033, and the urban agglomeration of Bengaluru is estimated to have 14.40 million people in 2025, with an annual growth rate of 2.76 per cent”.
He added that Bengaluru is one of the highest migrant absorption cities in India, and the state government is and will continue to build infrastructure for the rapid growth Bengaluru is experiencing.
“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?” Kharge taunted, to which Lokesh replied, “As India’s youngest state, we are looking for every opportunity to grow and generate jobs. I truly believe that as states compete for investments and jobs, India will prosper. My humble suggestion - Arrogance, like potholes on roads, should be fixed first before the journey gets tripped up!”