Peeved over Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's remark allegedly against a senior state bureaucrat, at least eight service unions including the Odisha IAS Officer Association today appealed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
The Opposition BJP, however, alleged that the employees associations' complaint against Pradhan was part of a "big conspiracy" against the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister.
"It is a false allegation against the Union Minister. The employees unions are being instructed and pressurised to make such complaint against Pradhan," state BJP general secretary Prithiwraj Harichandan told reporters here.
At least eight employees unions have lodged complaint against a specific Union Minister who allegedly behaved in a rude manner to officers, an official statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.
The Odisha IAS Officer Association was the first to make the complain against Pradhan.
The incident happened yesterday when Pradhan attended the inauguration of the National Data Centre here, along with Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Odisha IT Secretary and senior IAS officer Ashok Meena were also present at the same meeting.
"The incident took place on 28.05.18 at the inauguration of the National Data Centre of NIC, Bhubaneswar, wherein Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister personally targeted a senior IAS officer of the state government, who was attending the function on invitation," the association said in the memorandum submitted to the chief minister.
Claiming that Pradhan took the name of the IAS officer at least thrice during the meeting, IAS association secretary Vishal Dev said, "The remark is uncalled for and not welcome. We have registered a protest to such remark."
The IAS Officers Association was specially annoyed over Pradhan's remark that, "No work can be done without the state government. But that does not mean the name of a person will be replaced by the name of another person in the digital media. Meena Sahib, don't do this."
OPCC vice-president Naba Das said "It is unfortunate that objectionable remarks are being made against officers."