VK Pandian, long-time aide of Naveen Patnaik and 5T Secretary, on Tuesday said his task for the present was to help the Odisha chief minister score his win in the upcoming polls as he asserted that the BJD would win with a three-fourth majority in the state again.
The BJD leader, who took voluntary retirement from the coveted civil services last year to join the party, has already said he would not contest in the upcoming elections.
Speaking at the CNN-News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Pandian said: “I was very clear when I took this decision that I am going to help the chief minister come back with 3/4th majority to serve the people again. That’s my one and only objective right now. I see only that in my eyes.”
Breaking his silence over the much speculated BJD-BJP alliance in Odisha, Pandian said Patnaik did not need the support of the BJP to form the government in the state and, similarly, PM Narendra Modi may not need the support of the BJD to form the government in the country as he explained that the alliance talks are premised on statesmanship for a higher purpose.
“Why does somebody join an alliance? Somebody joins an alliance because they want to win elections. Somebody joins an alliance because they want to have an impact on the electoral math. Here is a chief minister who is so popular in the state and he gets three-fourth majority every time. In the recently concluded panchayat elections, which is fought on the party’s symbol, he won 90 per cent of the seats and the second party was BJP with 5 per cent seats. So, Naveen Patnaik does not need an alliance to come back to serve the people.
“I would say the same thing about Narendra Modi. Whatever surveys you are showing, whatever others are showing prove that he is going to become the prime minister of the country again. Naveen Patnaik is going to be the chief minister of the state undoubtedly and Narendra Modi is going to be the prime minister. How I put it is that there are some things which are beyond politics. It is a mark of great statesmanship; that two great leaders wanting to come together for a greater cause. It has nothing to do with politics. That’s how I see it and that is how I put it and even the chief minister sees it that way. It has no electoral value either for BJP or for BJD.”
On being pressed further, Pandian emphasised: “BJD does not need BJP to form government in the state and BJP may not need BJD to form government in the Centre. That is why I made it very clear that it is to do with two individuals who share a great friendship with each other and they see that some things are beyond politics and that is where you see a rare mark of statesmanship. I consciously use the word statesmanship. It has nothing to do with politics.”
However, the BJD leader remained tight-lipped about the current state of the alliance. “I think if anything happens we will all get to know” was his cryptic response.
Five-time chief minister Naveen Patnaik has already equaled the records of two former longest-serving chief ministers — the late Jyoti Basu of West Bengal and Pawan Chamling of Sikkim. In April 2024, Patnaik would be fighting for his record sixth term.
On being asked what makes Patnaik tick, the former bureaucrat — who has worked closely with the chief minister for over a decade — said: “I don’t know if throughout the world you have any parallel of democratically elected leader continuing in a space as popular as the chief minister of Odisha and winning election after election with a higher margin. He started in a decade when newspapers were ruling the roost, then came internet, then social media. So all these eras of public scrutiny, he has withstood and his popularity ratings are the highest in the country for any chief minister.
“I would say that one of the main reasons for his success is that he does not see politics as politics, he sees it as public service and people also don’t see him as a political leader. They see him as somebody who is there to serve them. I think that is the connect he has with people which has made him very popular.”
Odisha goes for simultaneous polls and will vote in four phases from May 13 till June 1. As the date of polling draws near, one question on the minds of people is who is the political successor of Naveen Patnaik and if it will be the 49-year-old former bureaucrat.
Pandian opened up on this vexing question as well. “I don’t think I should answer this. The people of Odisha should answer this. I am the successor of his values, I am the successor of his hard work, I get inspired by his sincerity, commitment and keeping politics away from public service and doing service to the people. These are values that I have imbibed from the chief minister. Politics can come later on — whenever, whatever people will decide, it’s fine.”
Pandian also revealed that Naveen Patnaik would have a succession plan in place. “Let me put it this way. The CM is so popular, he is so meticulous in doing everything. He has transformed the state of Odisha from where it was and what it is now. And, BJD is the vehicle which he created to transform the state. Such a futuristic chief minister who holds people of Odisha in his heart will definitely have planned out something for the BJD.”
Quoting the chief minister’s reply when asked who would succeed him, Pandian said, “I think he always says the people of Odisha will decide who will succeed him. We all follow that. In fact, when somebody asked Biju Babu when he was alive about who would succeed him, he also said the people of Odisha will decide. Democracy finally bows to the will of the people.”
The BJP and the Congress have made Pandian’s non-Odia roots and growing clout in the state an election issue. While Congress has given the slogan “Odisha for Odias”, the BJP has said it would contest the elections on the issue of “Odisha’s swabhiman and asmita”.
Responding to these charges, the hitherto man behind the scenes said: “I know that for the last 3 to 4 years I have been the center point of attack for everyone in Odisha politics. Most of the opposition parties attack me so that’s part of the game. And, whether I succeed or not, it’s up to the people of Odisha to decide.”
He added: “They have to come and see some of the meetings I have with people and the emotion which they pour out when they talk to me. I think that will clarify how they hold me — whether they think of me as one of theirs or whether they hold me as an outsider. It is the people of Odisha who will finally decide.”
The 2024 Odisha election is all set to be a defining one that would test Naveen Patnaik’s legacy, Pandian’s acceptability among the people and the challenge from the BJP if there is no alliance. And, if there is, it would still be a defining moment when the former allies — after breaking ties in 2009 in the aftermath of the Kandhamal riots — would reunite. The Congress, which is working on the ground for a comeback, is already pitching itself as the true opposition to the BJD.
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