The political squabble between Tamil Nadu's ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the opposition AIADMK — over internet giant Google's decision to invest $15 billion in a data and AI hub in Andhra Pradesh's Vizag, rather than in CEO Sundar Pichai's home state — saw a new combatant emerge on Tuesday morning.
Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) helps keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in power, posted a screenshot of a news report on the topic with a short, three-word message: "He chose Bharat." He added the Indian flag emoji for emphasis.
Hours earlier, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Edappadi Palaniswami, who is also an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, took aim at Chief Minister MK Stalin and his government for failing to bring Google to the state, despite a "strong cultural connection" to its leadership— the fact that Sundar Pichai was born in Madurai. Senior AIADMK leader RB Udayakumar told reporters the DMK had missed a "historic opportunity" to ensure the creation of the data and AI hub in the state.
"Despite Google CEO Sundar Pichai being a Tamil, the DMK government failed to invite the company to establish its AI infrastructure hub here," he said, hitting out at the lack of proactive engagement and vision that, he claimed, led to Andhra Pradesh securing the high-value project.
Industries Minister TRB Raaja responded for the DMK, pointing out that the state is due to receive a much larger investment — around â‚ą15,000 crore — from Foxconn, the Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer known for making Apple devices, such as iPhones.
Lokesh's three-word comment, meanwhile, is not the Telugu Desam Party leader's first "victory march" on X. Last week, after Google confirmed the investment, he posted a message saying, "Karnataka is feeling the burn!" amid a fierce row with that state’s IT Minister, Priyank Kharge. Kharge had been among senior Congress leaders attacking Lokesh and the TDP for allegedly trying to poach businesses and investors.
The backdrop for that attack was comments by a Bengaluru-based business owner, Rajesh Yabaji, about relocating his office because of traffic jams and potholed roads. Lokesh had offered Vizag as an alternative, prompting Kharge's "desperate scavenging..." jibe. Kharge then spoke of offers of â‚ą22,000 crore in freebies, including tax and utilities waivers, to court Google. Lokesh offered a pithy response: "If they (the Karnataka government) are inefficient, what can I do? Their own industrialists say infrastructure is bad... they should first fix those problems," he said.
Apart from Google, the states have also sparred over a tweet by Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who said on X that a Chinese colleague asked her: "why are the roads (in Bengaluru) so bad... why is there so much garbage... Doesn't the government want to support investment?" Her tweet — and residents writing to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah threatening to stop paying property tax unless the city's "killer potholes" and crumbling infrastructure are repaired — led to a fresh row.
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