Google hub: Amid AIADMK’s jab at DMK, Nara Lokesh says Pichai ‘chose Bharat’

With Google, headed by the Madurai-born Sundar Pichai, investing $15 billion in a data and AI hub in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizag, both the Tamil Nadu Opposition party AIADMK and Andhra Pradesh’s ruling party TDP have been rubbing salt into the wounds of Tamil Nadu’s DMK government.

On Tuesday (October 21), the AIADMK took a swipe at the DMK’s investment initiatives, saying the state lost out despite Pichai being a “son of the soil”. Andhra Pradesh’s IT Minister Nara Lokesh, son of TDP chief and state Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, also took a subtle dig at Tamil Nadu with a post on X, saying, “He [Pichai] chose Bharat.”

The TDP is an ally of the BJP in the ruling NDA coalition at the Centre and Andhra Pradesh. The MK Stalin-led DMK is part of the Opposition INDIA bloc.

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Lokesh’s roasting of ‘rival’ states

Lokesh has been making it a habit of getting under the skin of Opposition members by gloating over Andhra’s successes at the cost of others. After Google confirmed the investment last week, he posted on X, with a clear dig at Karnataka, “They say Andhra food is spicy. Seems some of our investments are too. Some neighbours are already feeling the burn!”

Even before that, in a not-so-subtle hint, he had tried to poach potential Karnataka investments to his own state, eliciting a fierce response from his Karnataka counterpart, Priyank Kharge, who called it “desperate scavenging”.

AIADMK grumbles

Coming back to Tamil Nadu, senior AIADMK leader and former minister RB Udhayakumar said the DMK government should have approached the Google CEO to get the project to the state. Missing such a huge opportunity shows the state government’s “apathy” in attracting big-ticket investments, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly said.

Also read: Google to invest $15 billion in Vizag AI hub; Sundar Pichai calls it 'landmark move'

Udhayakumar also slammed the Tamil Nadu Industries Minister TRB Rajaa for his comments stating that Tamil Nadu has received many investments from various places. Whenever the AIADMK asks Rajaa to submit a white paper on the total investments received by the Government, he shows a “blank paper” and boasts on social media that Tamil Nadu has garnered many investments, he said. “But today, the fact is Tamil Nadu has not received any investments,” he claimed.

‘Son of the soil’

Udhayakumar noted that Google is led by Sundar Pichai, “a son of the soil” who has been making “a revolution in the Information Technology industry”. “If the DMK government had approached him and offered him a formal invitation, Google would have chosen Tamil Nadu. But the Tamil Nadu government has lost such a huge opportunity,” he grumbled.

Google’s investment would lead to the creation of 6,000 direct and 30,000 indirect jobs in the region, he said. “The Government of Andhra Pradesh will receive Rs 10,000 crore as revenue every year. Missing such a big opportunity shows the state government’s apathy in attracting big-ticket investments,” he said.

Also read: Apple invested in Karnataka: Siddaramaiah's dig at Andhra amid investment row

Udhayakumar said the Chandrababu Naidu-led Andhra government has been working on “4P strategy — People, Public, Private, Partnership”. “Based on this strategy, they have received this investment from Google and hereafter Vishakapatnam will grow at rocket speed in attracting new investments,” he said.

“Tamil Nadu, at least from now on, should pursue actively in bringing in new investments,” he urged.

Mega project

On October 14, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said the company would invest $15 billion over the next five years in setting up an AI hub in India, which will include the country’s largest data centre in partnership with the Adani Group.

The AI hub at Vishakapatnam would be Google’s largest outside the US and include 1-gigawatt data centre campus, new large-scale energy sources, and an expanded fibre-optic network.

(With agency inputs)