In a big development in Odisha politics, VK Pandian, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s trusted private secretary and state’s 5T secretary, has been given the Cabinet rank after he opted for voluntary retirement amidst growing criticism from the Opposition regarding his frequent public appearances ahead of the crucial 2024 elections.
Odisha goes to polls for both Assembly and Parliament next year.
The state’s General Administration and Public Grievance Department in its October 24 order mentioned that Pandian has been appointed chairman of 5T (Transformational Initiatives) and Nabin Odisha scheme in the “rank of Cabinet minister”. “Pandian shall work directly under the Chief Minister,” the order said.
The Department of Personnel and Training approved the voluntary retirement of Pandian on October 23 after a reference letter from the government of Odisha.
A 2000 batch IAS officer, VK Pandian has his roots in Tamil Nadu and had attracted attention for his impeccable credentials as a young district collector who cut his teeth in Ganjam district in the aftermath of the Odisha super cyclone in 1999. Naveen Patnaik brought him to the Chief Minister’s Office in 2011. Gradually, Pandian started to fill in the space vacated by Patnaik’s once trusted aide and ex-IAS officer Pyari Mohan Mohapatra who was expelled from the party after attempting to dislodge the CM.
As results of 2019 elections trickled in, the only other person who watched them along with Patnaik was Pandian. It was Pandian again who was seen standing behind Patnaik as the last rites of his departed sister Gita Mehta were being conducted in the Lodhi road crematorium in Delhi last month.
Post Patnaik’s phenomenal fifth term victory, one photograph that caught attention was that of him sitting on a chair with Pandian standing behind him.
Pandian’s clout and influence over the party and government has only been growing ever since he moved into the CMO. The quintessential back-room boy, publicity-shy babu, and easily Odisha’s most powerful bureaucrat surprised many when he started appearing, about a year ago, along with the Chief Minister in all videos that the government released to the press — whether it was meeting industrialists, felicitating sportspersons or inauguration ceremonies. In fact, some of these videos also had Pandian’s close-ups to underline his presence as well as proximity to Patnaik. This was a far cry from the faceless bureaucrat that he once preferred to be.
In the recent past, Pandian attracted stiff criticism from opposition leaders in Odisha who relentlessly questioned the former’s frequent public tours across Odisha’s districts. With the 78-year-old chief minister either not being able to or not willing to put in the grind of gruelling tours, it was Pandian who tried to step in for him addressing people’s grievances in well attended public meetings.
In fact, the 5T secretary had completed touring all 147 assembly constituencies across 30 districts of Odisha in six months this year beginning with Mayurbhanj and ending in Jajpur. The BJP had even formally complained about the bureaucrat’s moves as unbecoming of a serving civil servant. Patnaik, however, had defended Pandian on the floor of the Assembly saying that the officer was simply following his orders.
Pandian’s increasing public presence had created unease even within the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), with party president Naveen Patnaik expelling the Khandapada MLA and editor of Odia daily ‘Sambad’ following registration of cases against him by the Economic Offences Wing of Odisha. Interestingly, Patnaik had questioned Pandian’s role in his newspaper ‘Sambad’.
Veteran journalist Rajesh Mahapatra says, “It has been almost a year that Pandian has positioned himself as the face of the government and, in the process, has made his political ambitions abundantly clear. It was a matter of time that he would have had to quit his job as being a serving bureaucrat and openly get involved in party affairs, which were increasingly seen as acts of impropriety and have drawn widespread criticism from the opposition”.
Pandian is married to a 2000 batch IAS officer Sujata R Karthikeyan who is currently Secretary of Mission Shakti. So, what next for Pandian? Though it is too early to say whether Pandian would be contesting the 2024 assembly elections, but it is clear that he would play a key role in managing the BJD and, consequently, in Odisha’s politics at least in the upcoming 2024 elections.
Mahapatra says, “Just as after 2019, Naveen crafted a new position as 5T secretary for him, I will not be surprised if he creates a new post in the party for him, and his command over the party will be cemented with this. It will be formal and official that Pandian is the man in charge for the BJD”.
Comments
0 comment