Bhubaneswar: Strongly objecting to senior IAS and IPS officers, including the state Chief Secretary and DGP calling on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to congratulate him on the BJD’s poll victories, the Opposition on Tuesday raised the issue in the Odisha Assembly.
“This is dangerous for a democracy. It is the duty of officers to maintain neutrality irrespective of whichever party is ruling. We demand a ruling from the Speaker that such incidents won’t recur,” Opposition chief whip Mohan Majhi said.
State BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan on Monday termed it a blot on the administrative history of India.
“It has no precedent in India… top bureaucrats, police officers and other officials going in groups to congratulate the head of a party over victory in local polls. It’s a blot on the administrative history of India,” he said at a press conference here on Monday.
“Bureaucracy is one of the four pillars of democracy and officers need to uphold its integrity, independence, neutrality and impartiality. Unfortunately, all those boundaries have been violated. The ‘Laxman Rekha’ has been crossed,” Harichandan added.
“It’s unfortunate that Constitutional ethics have been violated. We have been saying all along that the BJD has established a bureaucracy-driven rule in the state and top bureaucrats lining up to congratulate the CM only proves the nexus between the ruling party and the state bureaucracy. The BJD has been winning polls by misusing the official machinery,” he said.
Senior IAS and IPS officers and members of several service associations on Sunday congratulated Naveen on the BJD’s victory in the panchayat and ULB elections.
Chief Secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Development Commissioner PK Jena, DGP Sunil Kumar Bansal, ADG Lalit Das, ADG RK Sharma and Police Commissioner Soumendra Priyadarshi met Naveen to congratulate him.
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