The opposition BJP on Monday criticised the top bureaucrats and police officers in Odisha for visiting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at his residence to congratulate him over the ruling BJD’s spectacular performance in the recently concluded panchayat and urban polls. Senior IAS, IPS and OAS officers, including Chief Secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Development Commissioner PK Jena, DGP Sunil Kumar Bansal, met Patnaik on Sunday and extended their wishes to the BJD chief for his party’s historic win in the twin polls.

At a press meet, state BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan dubbed the “behavior of the who’s who” in Odisha administration as a “black spot” in the history of Odisha administration.

“How can civil servants holding posts of the chief secretary and the director general of police meet and thank a particular party president and congratulate him over his camp’s victory.

“There is no such 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 told reporters.

Maintaining that bureaucracy was one of the four pillars of democracy and officers needed to uphold the dignity of the post they held, Harichandan claimed that “all limits have been crossed”.

The nexus between the ruling party and the top officers lay exposed, he contended.

“We have long been alleging that the BJD government was using government machineries for its political gain and this just got proved on Sunday,” he said.

However, the ruling BJD said there was nothing wrong in what the bureaucrats did.

“It was a courtesy visit to thank the CM. Such traditions of bonhomie should prevail… Senior officers in BJP-ruled states also meet their CMs,” BJD MLA Bhupinder Singh added.