*Group- 1 SIT row a diversion from DSC Scam*

Tadepalli, Aug 13: YSRCP spokesperson Yanamala Nagarjuna Yadav and Party Youth Empowerment Cell Convener Salambabu said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was using the SIT report on the 2018 Group-1 recruitment as a diversion from the alleged irregularities in Mega DSC.

Speaking at the YSRCP Central Office here on Thursday, they said unemployed youth were protesting over DSC paper leaks and sports quota irregularities. They said the Group-1 issue was now being raised to divert public attention and avoid questions during the coming Assembly session.

Nagarjuna Yadav said the SIT itself found no tampering of original answer scripts. The scripts were sent to seven CFSL centres and no tampering was detected. He said the High Court had not faulted digital evaluation itself, while the process at Highland was limited to transferring digitally evaluated marks onto OMR sheets.

He said corrections during evaluation were part of the normal scrutiny process involving examiners, chief examiners and scrutinisers. The examiners had also told the SIT that they themselves made the corrections and there was no third-party involvement.

Salambabu said Naidu was playing with the careers and credibility of 163 selected Group-1 candidates to protect Nara Lokesh from criticism over DSC. He said the selected candidates included IIT, NIT, IIM, MBBS and BDS graduates, while 39 had reached UPSC interviews and 16 were selected for IAS, IPS, IFS and IRS.

He said Group-1 interviews were conducted through three boards with APPSC members, senior All India Service officers and academicians, with boards allotted through lottery. The SIT found no deviation in the prescribed interview grading, he said.

They questioned why the Naidu government appointed a candidate from the same Group-1 batch to the Kuppam Development Authority if the recruitment was questionable. They said YSRCP would place the facts before the public and expose the government’s alleged DSC irregularities and diversion tactics during the Assembly session.