YSRCP demands Lokesh’s resignation, CBI probe

Amaravati: The YSRCP on Monday stepped up its attack on the TDP-led government over the alleged irregularities in the Mega DSC-2025 recruitment, demanding the resignation of IT and HRD minister Nara Lokesh as a precondition for a CBI inquiry into the issue.

Addressing the media at party central office in Tadepalli, YSRCP state coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy condemned the attack on party leaders and workers who were protesting against the alleged DSC irregularities and accused the ruling TDP of using its political and administrative influence to suppress the opposition’s campaign. He alleged that police sided with the ruling party during the incident, describing it as an example of the alleged misuse of state institutions by the coalition government.

Ramakrishna Reddy also alleged that sections of the media were distorting the issue by portraying the confrontation as a fight between the YSRCP and candidates selected under the sports quota. The actual dispute, he said, was over candidates who allegedly secured jobs through fake or invalid certificates at the expense of deserving candidates who had worked for the posts but were denied appointments.

He questioned why candidates selected under the sports quota and TDP workers were present at the venue when the YSRCP was submitting a representation on the alleged DSC irregularities. The YSRCP cadre, he said, had gathered to raise their objections and were subsequently attacked. “The fight is not between two political parties or between the YSRCP and those who secured jobs,” Ramakrishna Reddy said, arguing that the issue was between candidates who allegedly obtained appointments through unfair means and those responsible for permitting such appointments.

He particularly targeted the sports-quota recruitment, claiming that evidence had emerged showing that some concerned sports associations had denied the candidates’ participation or medal-winning claims. He also questioned how candidates could have secured government jobs without clearing the qualifying TET examination.

Ramakrishna Reddy referred to the government order relating to the sports-quota appointments and its subsequent reversal as evidence, according to him, of the scale of the alleged irregularities. He maintained that problems were visible from the issuance of the DSC notification through the filling of vacancies and alleged that the government was attempting to divert attention from the evidence being produced by the opposition.

He further accused Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu of shielding his son, Lokesh, from the allegations and warned that those responsible for the alleged irregularities, as well as those attempting to protect them, would eventually face consequences.

The YSRCP reiterated that an independent CBI investigation was necessary to establish the facts surrounding the recruitment process and maintained that Lokesh should step down as education minister before such an inquiry is taken up.

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