BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Monday lashed out at the top civil servants and different services associations of the government for their visit to Naveen Nivas, the residence of Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik, to congratulate him on his party’s resounding victory in the back to back panchayat and civic body elections.
Taking strong exception to such behaviour of the executives, the BJP said, Chief Secretary Suresh Mahapatra, Director General of Police Sunil Bansal, and other senior bureaucrats have not only broken the tradition but also created a bad precedent by crossing the limits of professional ethics.
“We on behalf of the BJP condemn such unpardonable mistake of the bureaucrats in the harshest possible language and urge them to beg pardon from the people of the State for this mistake,” State BJP general secretary Prithiviraj Harichandan said at a media conference here.
This incident will be seen as a blot in the administrative history of the State bureaucracy, Harichandan said and added that the bureaucrats proved the BJP right that they are subservient to ruling BJD and not to the people of the State. They have betrayed the trust of the people by owing allegiance to the ruling party, he alleged.
The executive is the third pillar of the Constitution which mandates them to ensure honesty and neutrality at all levels during the course of their service. The bureaucrats had taken oath of allegiance to the Constitution before joining service and now they are playing into the hands of the BJD, he said.
“It is not expected from the Chief Secretary and the DGP, who are the head of the State executive and the State police respectively, to congratulate the CM on his party’s victory in panchayat and ULB polls. They should show their allegiance to the Constitution and not to any political party,” he added.
The BJP leader likened the current administration of the State to the Emergency period when the executives were all-powerful and calling the shots. The inaction of the police against BJD goons who killed four BJP workers in Hinjili and free distribution of money by the leaders of the ruling party are pointers to the fact of DGP’s partiality towards his political master, he alleged.