Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said that to reduce the growing dependence on robots, people should have more children, the Deccan Chronicle reported on Wednesday. “I used to advocate family planning, but now I am asking people to have more kids, so our dependency on robots will decrease,” he said.

He added that educated couples today did not want to have children as they consider it a burden.

Naidu’s statement immediately triggered reactions from rival parties. YSR Congress MLA RK Roja asked the chief minister why he stopped with one child. Congress leader Sunkara Padmasri asked how Naidu will provide education and employment opportunities if the population increased.

This is not the first time Naidu has spoken about having more children. In 2015, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister said youngsters are not marrying early, and even if they did, they were not having children. In 2016, he blamed the rich for being content with “one or no” child.