Mangalagiri As IT Corridor Gachibowli: Does Nara Lokesh Know What He’s Talking?

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh who is facing the Assembly elections for the first time has hit the campaign trail in Mangalagiri from where he is contesting.

Addressing the public he promised to make Managalagiri the next IT corridor with world class facilities. He said that Mangalagiri would be developed on the lines of IT corridor in Gachibowli, Hyderabad which will help develop with world class facilities for developing IT sector in Andhra Pradesh.

This was the first promise he made during his maiden campaign in Mangalagiri, after his candidature for Assembly polls was announced by TDP. This has set off a series of memes and jokes among student and IT folks in Social Media.

This is not the first instance where Lokesh's statements made him a laughing stock among the people as time and again puts his foot in his mouth with many such statements he made in the past.

It may be recollected that the IT sector in Hyderabad was not something that had happened over a period of five or ten years. The foundation was laid by former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, who was in fact the first person to bring in a radical change in India’s economic policy.

Software Technology Parks of India (S.T.P.I), which was set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), by the Government of India in 1991, with the objective of encouraging, promoting and boosting the Software Exports from India was also something that was initiated during his time.

Therefore, to claim that his father N Chandrababu Naidu was the architect of the IT revolution in Hyderabad would in fact be technically incorrect.

It took more than 20 years for Gachibowli and its surrounding areas to become a recognised IT hub in the country. However Bangalore, Pune, Delhi NCR and Mumbai are perceived as the best IT valley in the country.

There are so many factors—IT policies, industrial regulations to be considered apart from the regional issues like supply of skilled employees, digital infrastructure, innovation, and livability, recreational and educational facilities needed to support this entire ecosystem called IT

Now with Nara Lokesh's tall promise to make Mangalagiri the next Gachibowli, that too in the next five years is something a little too far fetched for even a common man to believe.

Also Read: Nara Lokesh Silenced By Former MLA Kandru Kamala