*APPSC diversion cannot shield Lokesh*

Tadepalli, August 14: YSRCP State Spokesperson Puththa Siva Shankar said the coalition government was reviving the APPSC issue only to divert public attention from the serious irregularities exposed in Mega DSC–2025 and demanded the immediate resignation of Education Minister Nara Lokesh.

Speaking at the YSRCP central office, Siva Shankar said the government had failed to answer the questions surrounding DSC despite intense public debate over recruitment irregularities. Instead, it was attempting to create a new controversy around APPSC even though the SIT and forensic findings themselves contradicted the political narrative being circulated.

He said the SIT report clearly established that no digital evaluation had taken place in the Group-I process and that manual evaluation was conducted in accordance with High Court directions. Examination of the answer scripts by seven CFSL laboratories found no alterations or additions, while the SIT also recorded that only OMR bubbling activity took place at the location being projected as an evaluation centre.

Siva Shankar said the YSRCP government had introduced several safeguards in APPSC recruitment, including CCTV surveillance, fingerprint and facial recognition at examination centres, monitored evaluation, multiple interview boards involving IAS and IPS officers and Vice-Chancellors, and QR-code-based allocation of candidates to interview panels.

He said the present government should place before the public any specific violation it had found instead of using APPSC as a political diversion from DSC. He also questioned why several recruitment notifications cleared during the YSRCP government—including posts in education, women and child welfare, forest and other departments—had been stalled.

“No diversion can erase the questions surrounding Mega DSC. The government must answer the public, order an independent investigation and make Nara Lokesh accept responsibility. Until justice is delivered to unemployed youth, YSRCP’s struggle will continue,” Siva Shankar said.