Andhra Pradesh IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh won the hearts of the IT fraternity, with his veiled and sensible counter to Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shiva Kumar.

The young IT Minister who is known for using every possible occasion to pitch Andhra Pradesh as the favourable destination for IT companies and investors, chipped in when Rajesh Yabaji, co-founder of a Bengaluru-based IT company, expressed extreme distress over infrastructure and governance in the city.

Rajesh Yabaji, who has been staying in Bellandur for the last nine years rued that, it is taking hours for his staff to reach office on roads full of potholes and dust. He expressed further distress that, there are no efforts from Government side to repair damaged roads and address bengaluru infrastructure woes.

While the IT company’s co-founder expressed his genuine pain, DK Shiva Kumar and Nara Lokesh responded in contrasting styles.

Nara Lokesh invited Rajesh Yabaji to set up their operations in Visakhapatnam, promising all possible support from AP Government’s side. On the other side DK Shiva Kumar expressed displeasure, calling Bengaluru-based co-founder’s complaint as blackmailing.

Commenting further on DK Shiva Kumar’s ‘blackmail’ statement, Nara Lokesh took a veiled dig at Karanataka Deputy CM. Nara Lokesh pointed out that AP Govt takes serious note of its people’s complaints and works to solve the problems, instead of seeing it as blackmail. He highlighted the difference between AP and other states, though did not take DK Shiva Kumar’s name directly.

These contrasting responses from DK Shiva Kumar and Nara Lokesh have generated heated debate on social media paltfoms. While DK Shiva Kumar drew flak, Nara Lokesh won the hearts of netizens for his proactive and concerned apporach.