TDP spokesman and Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board chairman Neelayapalem Vijay Kumar on Monday alleged that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) had unleashed “legal terrorism” against companies and entrepreneurs seeking to invest in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) by filing writ petitions in courts, the most notable being the one challenging the allotment of land for the proposed Google data centre in Visakhapatnam.

Addressing media persons at the party’s central office near Mangalagiri in Guntur district, Mr. Vijay Kumar said that while the coalition government was striving to restore “brand AP”, the YSRCP was creating hurdles to prevent investment proposals from taking concrete shape.

He said the proposed Google data centre would be a turning point for A.P., but the YSRCP did not want the project to materialise for political reasons, ignoring the fact that it would generate employment for thousands of youth and help transform the port city into an IT hub.

Mr. Vijay Kumar further said that a number of Fortune 500 companies were keen on setting up their units in A.P., but the YSRCP appeared determined to block such investments as part of a political conspiracy. He added that even the allotment of land to IT companies at 99 paise per acre had been challenged, at a time when the State government was trying to enable Visakhapatnam to compete with Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

The YSRCP would pay a political price for its actions, he added.