Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday assured stringent action against those accused of leaking question papers in the examinations held by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) irrespective of their political affiliation.

Meanwhile, the state BJP submitted a memorandum to Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan demanding his resignation along with that of the chief minister, debarring the chairman and all board members of TSPSC and an inquiry by a sitting judge of the High Court.

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The minister in a media conference, however, rejected the BJP’s demand for his resignation saying “I am the minister for information technology but does that mean I am responsible for every computer in the state?” He said according to the preliminary SIT report there was no hacking into the system. The accused employees had stolen the question paper from a computer in the confidential section of the commission and later sold it for Rs 10 lakh.

The minister said the exams were cancelled so that all doubts over the recruitment could be allayed.

“It is not the failure of the system or the institution. The question paper leak is an unfortunate incident due to the faults of two individuals and lakhs of youth are now facing difficulties.”

While he assured that they were trying to prevent a recurrence of such incidents in future he once again alleged that one of the accused Rajasekhar Reddy was an active worker of the BJP and displayed photographs of the accused with BJP leaders.

He also recalled that BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar had alleged that the youths were being kept busy with examinations so that they do not join the BJP when job notifications were issued by the state government. He accused the Opposition of provoking the youths.

He said, “If such a person is caught in the case it raises doubts” adding that a complaint has been lodged with the state DGP. However, he assured the students that the guilty will not be spared. “The police will investigate if there is a conspiracy. They will find out if there was a criminal motive to defame the government and provoke the youth. Whoever is behind this, be it from the BJP, Congress or the BRS they will not be spared,” said Rao.

Rao assured students that they will not be required to pay any more fee for appearing in the re-examinations and study circles will be conducted round the clock, free digital study material will be provided and free food will also be supplied at the study centres. However, the BJP in its memorandum demanded that the state government should immediately compensate the students who appeared for the examination with Rs one lakh for the emotional and financial loss suffered by them.

However, students who had qualified in the Group I preliminary examinations vented their frustration in the social media, particularly as they hardly have two months left before UPSC exams and their hopes with TSPSC so rudely dashed.