The ongoing budget session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Friday with the Opposition BJP launching a scathing attack on the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government over the appointment of retired officers at the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
Coming down heavily on the ruling party, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jayanarayan Mishra said the CMO has turned into a retired officers’ club.
“Most of the retired officers were given reappointment at the CM’s office making it a retired officers’ club. When the state is struggling to provide employment to the youths, the reappointment of retired officers is really shocking,” said Mishra.
“There are many dynamic officers in the State. But instead of recruiting them what is the need of appointing the retired officers? The move of the government aims at rehabilitation of the officers who will act like their puppets,” the saffron party leader said while demanding the government to come up with a statement in the House.
Reacting to the allegations of the BJP, conch party MLA Arun Sahoo questioned how many retired IAS officers have been appointed at the office of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan? He also questioned the appointment of retired officers at the PM Narendra Modi’s office and other offices at the South Block.
“The Opposition questioned who are there at the CMO. As per the Assembly rule book, those who are not present at the House, their names cannot be taken. It seems they have forgotten the practice which needs to be followed inside the House,” Sahoo said.
“He (Jayanarayn Mishra) just wants to find himself in the headlines,” Sahoo added.
Notably, former Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, R Balakrishnan, Upendra Tripathi, PK Mohapatra and Gopabandhu Das were given reappointments at CM Naveen’s office after their retirement.
(Reported by Harihar Chand, OTV)