The preliminary examination of the Group I services of AP Public Service Commission (APPSC) went off peacefully on Sunday barring a few incidents, though amid a bandh and protests across Telangana.
By going ahead with the conduct of the examination, the Government had its way, rejecting the demand for postponement but the attendance was just about 35 per cent in Telangana region and over 60 per cent in Andhra/Rayalaseema regions.
The Osmania University campus was reminiscent of a battlefield yet again with agitating activists of the OU Joint Action Committee trying to disrupt the examination at the B.Ed College. A candidate came out of the hall and displayed the question paper. The activists, mostly youth and students, who were demanding 42 per cent of posts for Telangana, pelted stones on the police and the latter retaliated by firing teargas shells. APPSC chairman Y. Venkatarami Reddy said the overall attendance for the exam at the State level was 47.5 per cent.
He would take a decision on alleged leakage of the paper at OU campus later. Telangana leaders of various parties, including TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, demanded that the government cancel the examination and conduct it afresh in view of the leakage. Higher Education Minister D. Sridhar Babu, however, refused to concede the demand claiming that it was for the APPSC to review the situation and take a decision accordingly.
DGP K. Aravinda Rao said in a release that 1,720 persons were arrested, including eight MPs, MLAs and an MLC who were taken into preventive custody. Tension prevailed on the OU campus as Congress MPs Madhu Yashki Goud, Manda Jagannatham, G. Sukhender Reddy and G. Vivek were taken into preventive custody after they rushed to the university.