Published Aug 20, 2026 | 5:32 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 20, 2026 | 5:32 PM
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy speaking at the Press Conference at YSRCP central office in Tadepalli on 20 August
Synopsis: YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy reiterated his allegations against Mega DSC 2025 recruitment and called for a CBI probe. He rejected the ruling TDP’s counter-allegations against him over the APPSC 2018 Group-1 exam and said he was ready for an investigation.
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday, 20 August, escalated his months-long campaign against the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led coalition over alleged irregularities in the District Selection Committee (DSC) teacher recruitment process.
Addressing the media at the party’s central office in Tadepalli, Reddy said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s anger over the controversy was an attempt to shield his son, Education Minister Nara Lokesh.
The former Chief Minister repeated YSRCP’s demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the wider Mega DSC exercise, which filled close to 16,000 teaching posts. For months, the party has accused the government of compromising the recruitment process through paper leaks, an opaque merit list, and manipulation of the sports quota.
Also Read: Mega DSC 2025 to recruit over 16,000 teachers
Reddy questioned the recruitment of 372 candidates through 3% horizontal reservation under the sports category. He suggested the quota was filled without a written exam and was used to push through appointments of candidates without genuine sporting merit.
Comparing the selected candidates to Olympian PV Sindhu, he asked, “Sindhu received a job because she won international laurels. But how many of these 372 selected candidates have actually won real medals at the national or state level?”
Reddy demanded that the government publicly release the sports certificates and credentials of all candidates selected in sports quota.
He alleged that eligible candidates with genuine gold medals were denied jobs, while positions were handed out through the back door under what he called a “Lokesh Office” (LO) quota
The TDP and the state government have repeatedly disputed the allegations. Lokesh told the Assembly that the Mega DSC was conducted transparently and shared a caste-wise breakup of the 372 sports-quota selections to counter claims that the quota favoured any one community.
Also Read: YS Jagan calls DSC recruitment a ‘mega’ scam
Reddy disputed Minister Lokesh’s Assembly defence of assigning both question-paper preparation and exam conduct to the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). He argued that the two responsibilities had never previously been combined in the state’s DSC history and that doing so this time had opened the door to the alleged paper leak.
At the heart of YSRCP’s allegations is the controversy surrounding Purama Naveen, an outsourced employee at SCERT who secured the first rank in Krishna district for School Assistant (Social Studies). He was later removed from the final list.
The government previously defended his exclusion from the final list by claiming Naveen failed to attend the certificate verification process. However, Reddy strongly rubbished this justification.
“If he simply skipped the verification, why did he approach the High Court demanding his job?” he questioned, pointing out that Naveen had even written to the School Education Department about his rank. He alleged that Naveen’s top rank pointed directly to a question paper leak within SCERT.
“Was this leak restricted only to one candidate, or did it reach others?” asked Reddy, asserting that releasing a second merit list without resolving Naveen’s litigation was a cover-up.
Reddy referred to leaked audio clips where individuals were reportedly heard demanding up to ₹15 lakh for teacher posts. Lokesh had earlier said the government acted on the leaked audio recording as the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) Commissioner in Vijayawada filed a police complaint against the accused, who was later arrested.
However, Reddy argued that the saga proved irregularities in the recruitment and that the government’s admission confirmed attempts were made to sell government jobs through the DSC.
He questioned why police booked only one person described in the FIR as “suspected” and granted him station bail, instead of tracing the individuals whose phone numbers reportedly appear in the leaked recordings.
“The government has accepted the authenticity of these tapes, so why are the police not tracking down the phone numbers involved and registering FIRs?” he demanded.
Reddy accused Naidu of showing extreme anxiety to shield his son from the unfolding scam. The coalition, he said, was willing to debate the matter in the Assembly, where it commands a majority, but was avoiding a discussion in the Legislative Council, where the Opposition holds more sway.
He also cited the case of a woman aspirant who, he said, paid close to ₹14 lakh after being promised jobs first through the DSC and then through AP Tourism, and was cheated on both counts. Her complaint, filed around November last year, he said, made no mention of the DSC angle and had seen no progress since.
Responding to the TDP’s allegations against the 2018 APPSC Group-1 recruitment conducted during his tenure, Reddy said the notification was issued, and preliminary exams were completed during Naidu’s previous term. He maintained that his administration merely conducted the Mains exam and interviews.
Reddy cited the SIT report submitted to the High Court, and said, “The SIT you formed said that there were no irregularities. Yet you are still trying to spread misinformation.”
Addressing allegations that a second evaluation took place at a private resort in Vijayawada, he said, “They are trying to peddle lies that something happened at Haailand. But the SIT already confirmed that the procedure that took place at Haailand had no bearing on the final selection process.”
The SIT report, however, flagged several administrative lapses in the Group-1 manual evaluation process but ultimately concluded that the final selections were valid.
Reddy said that his government had revolutionised the APPSC recruitment process. He claimed that about 1.3 lakh village secretariat appointments and 6,296 posts were filled through 78 other notifications during his tenure.
He said no one had filed a credible complaint, and offered to submit the 2018 Group-1 recruitment to a CBI inquiry if Naidu agreed to do the same for the 2025 DSC exercise. He shared that YSRCP had already written to the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister seeking central intervention. He said the party’s agitation would continue until a CBI probe was ordered, and reiterated the demand for Lokesh’s resignation.
