Hans News Service Amaravati

YSRCP president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday challenged Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to order a CBI inquiry into both the alleged irregularities in DSC-2025 and the APPSC Group-I examinations, turning the recruitment controversy into a direct political confrontation.

Addressing the media at party central office, Jagan said YSRCP was prepared to face a probe into the Group-I examinations but asked whether the Chandrababu Naidu government was equally willing to subject the DSC-2025 recruitment process to a CBI investigation.

He rejected the allegations against the APPSC Group-I examination conducted during the previous government, saying the 2018 recruitment process was conducted transparently and in accordance with court directions.

Jagan alleged that the DSC-2025 process was questionable from question-paper setting to recruitment. He claimed the same institution was entrusted with setting and conducting the examination, creating scope for leakage and manipulation. He cited the case of outsourcing employee Naveen, alleging that he gained access to the question paper and topped the merit list. Jagan said Naveen’s name was subsequently removed from the second merit list, after which he approached the court. Jagan also alleged irregularities in recruitment under the sports quota. He claimed the government issued two G.O.s exempting job aspirants from taking the DSC examination, followed by two more G.O.s withdrawing those concessions after the favoured candidates had been accommodated.

According to Jagan, 372 people were recruited under the process. He questioned the government’s defence that the same benefit extended to others because badminton player P V Sindhu had been given a government job.

He claimed none of the 372 recruits had participated in international tournaments, while an archer who won a gold medal at the National Games was denied a job.Jagan also referred to audio recordings that allegedly circulated in connection with job trading and questioned why no action had been taken. “This is why DSC needs a CBI probe and the Education Minister should resign,” he said.

Jagan accused the NDA coalition government of raising the Group-I issue to divert attention from the alleged DSC irregularities and “save” Education Minister Nara Lokesh. He said the preliminary Group-I examination was conducted when Chandrababu Naidu was Chief Minister, while the YSRCP government conducted the final examination for candidates who had cleared the preliminary stage. Jagan said the allegations had put the future of 163 candidates selected for senior government positions at risk. He defended the evaluation process, saying digital evaluation was initially planned because of the Covid situation but was switched to manual evaluation following court directions. According to Jagan, the answer scripts were evaluated under CCTV surveillance at APPSC offices and educational institutions. He said the papers were shuffled and bar-coded, preventing evaluators from identifying candidates.

The YSRCP chief demanded that the proposed CBI inquiry be expanded to cover both the Group-I examinations and DSC-2025, saying an independent investigation was necessary to establish the facts.