Seven Checks Later, Andhra Politics Fails Its Own Test

Andhra Pradesh has apparently discovered a new examination format: candidates undergo seven verification stages, politicians undergo none. The controversy over alleged irregularities in the District Selection Committee teacher recruitment drive has now produced the familiar syllabus — accusations, counter-accusations, demands for a probe and a Governor appointment. The applicants are waiting for clarity. The political class is waiting for camera time.

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has accused the Chandrababu Naidu government and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh of permitting irregularities and has demanded a CBI inquiry. Jagan has also alleged that YSRCP workers protesting the issue were attacked by people backed by the ruling establishment, describing the alleged attackers as a “rowdy force”. Those are allegations, not findings. The government’s response should therefore be an evidence-based inquiry, not another instalment of Andhra’s long-running serial, Who Is More Outraged Today?

The ruling TDP-led government has an especially simple task: explain the recruitment process, publish the relevant records, identify where decisions were made and let an independent mechanism examine disputed cases. “Merit and transparency” are not decorative words for a government website. They are supposed to survive contact with an applicant’s file. If a candidate can allegedly clear seven stages and still be declared ineligible, the process may be perfectly defensible — but it now owes the public more than a press conference and a stern expression.

Jagan’s sudden appearance as the patron saint of institutional purity is no less theatrical. His party governed Andhra Pradesh until 2024, and its current demand for clean procedure arrives with the confidence of a man presenting an old report card as evidence of lifelong scholarship. Meanwhile, Chandrababu Naidu has said he could arrest Jagan “within a minute” but chooses restraint because arrest would not benefit the people. This is a remarkable theory of governance: restraint announced at full volume, with the stopwatch kept ready.

Young people seeking teaching jobs need a fair process, not a travelling argument between rival political establishments. Andhra’s leaders have turned that modest requirement into a referendum on their own moral superiority. The answer key is still pending; the politicians have already failed the paper.