Andhra Pradesh Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Thursday expressed regret over the treatment allegedly meted out to the Amara Raja Group during the previous YSRCP government.
He said Andhra Pradesh had lost a historic industrial opportunity because of the “harassment and intimidation” faced by one of the state’s most respected home-grown companies.
Amara Raja, promoted by former MP Galla Jayadev and his family, shifted its ambitious Rs 9,500-crore lithium-ion Giga Corridor project to neighbouring Telangana after allegedly facing pressure during the YSRCP regime.
Reacting to the inauguration of Amara Raja’s new Customer Qualification Plant at the Divitipalli Giga Corridor in Telangana’s Mahabubnagar district, Lokesh said Andhra Pradesh owed an apology to Galla Jayadev and his family.
“Over four decades, Amara Raja has been more than just one of Andhra Pradesh’s greatest industrial success stories. It has created world-class manufacturing facilities, generated thousands of jobs and carried the name of Chittoor and Andhra Pradesh across India and the world,” Lokesh said in a post on X.
“The harassment your company endured under the previous government should never have happened. An entrepreneur who chose to build in his home state deserved encouragement, not intimidation,” he added.
Lokesh said it was painful that a company born in Andhra Pradesh had to look beyond the state’s borders for its next phase of growth.
However, he expressed hope that Amara Raja’s biggest chapters would still be written in the state where its journey began.
“As we rebuild trust, Andhra Pradesh is once again open for enterprise. We hope Amara Raja’s biggest chapters will still be written in the state where its journey began. Our doors, and our hearts, will always remain open,” he said.
