Bhubaneswar: Soon after a purported photograph of Mayurbhanj Collector wearing a T-shirt with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s logo sparked a row, BJP leader and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi on Monday claimed that 4 to 6 officers in Odisha are under Centre’s watch for allegedly working at the behest of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Speaking to reporters, the firebrand BJP leader claimed that some officers in the state are forgetting that they are required to work in accordance with the constitutional provisions and strictly abide by their service rules.
“These officers must remember that their services have been placed at the disposal of the Odisha government and not the BJD,” the Parliamentarian said.
All these officers are under watch and their activities are under observation, Aparajita, herself a former IAS officer, said.
“I urge there officers to respect the Constitution and refrain from functioning as BJD workers,” said the Parlimentarian.
The BJP leader also sought to know as to why some officers, including the district collectors of Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj, have been continuing in their posts for over five years.
Earlier in the day, the purported photograph of Mayurbhanj Collector Vineet Bharadwaj and SP B Gangadhar, sporting the T-shirts with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s logo, during a mini marathon organised by the Mayurbhanj Special Development Council had evoked sharp reactions from netizens and political leaders.
Aparajita, who has been slamming the state government over a bureaucrat calling the shots, strongly disapproved the Mayurbhanj collector wearing such a T-shirt. “Very unfortunate as well as ridiculous! Collector, Mayurbhanj, Odisha! Degeneration of the official standards to this extent. These officials must know that season is not the same always,” she wrote on X.
In his defence, Bharadwaj told the media that it was a government event.
