Pandian has become a major target of opposition leaders, from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda to Congress party’s Rahul Gandhi. Question: How will non-Odias take over state offices if BJD returns. Odia’s “asmita” (self-respect) is at risk in a nation formed on the basis of its language.
In the BJD, Pandian is one of the 40 star activists whose name comes after Naveen. Surrounded by party candidates, he took center stage everywhere, even at meetings attended by Naveen.
After joining the CM’s office as Naveen’s personal secretary in 2011, Pandian’s efficiency caught Naveen’s attention. Soon, he was chosen as the “boy behind the scenes” to design poll strategy for Naveen for the 2014 and 2019 elections.
Local BJP and Congress leaders have been raising the issue of extra-constitutional powers that Pandian enjoyed while serving as chief secretary until October last year. But with the 50-year-old voluntarily retiring and joining the BJD, the ‘outsider’ tag came into focus.
But Pandian remained calm and composed. “I am an Indian by birth and an Odia by breath. The mother tongue of my children is Odia and Odisha is my karmabhoomi (land where people work),” he said.
On the question of succeeding Naveen, Pandian said he considers himself the heir apparent of Naveen’s values, which include impeccable integrity, absolute commitment to the people of Odisha and his hard work. He added that Naveen has always said that the people of Odisha will decide his successor.
Pandian is a 2000-batch IAS officer who was initially assigned as Punjab cadre. But just a few months into his training, he changed it to Odisha after marrying Sujata Rout (now Sujata R Karthikeyan), another IAS officer in the 2000-batch Odisha cadre. Sujata hails from a village in Kendrapada district of Odisha. Following instructions from the Electoral Commission, she was recently transferred to a non-election-related, non-publicly traded position in the state finance department for alleged breaches of poll codes.
Like his “guru” Naveen (who wears loose white sleeveless pajamas and slippers in public), Pandian always wears an untucked long-sleeved white shirt and gray trousers to all meetings .
In March, when the BJP and BJD were engaged in alliance talks, Pandian was the BJD’s main negotiator and traveled to Delhi several times.
On Pandian’s rise, BJP Odisha representative and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said it was not a matter of any particular individual but a reversal of the established process under Naveen’s leadership. “The principles of democracy have been violated and the dignity of Odisha has been ignored. The mandate of Naveen and the BJD has been put on hold as power is transferred to an unelected official,” he said.
The BJP hopes to use the “Odia asmita” to form its first government in Odisha and increase its 2019 Lok Sabha seats to eight. In the last elections, the BJD won 12 seats from LS and 1 seat from the Congress. In the assembly polls, the BJD won 113 seats, the BJP 23 seats, the Congress 9 seats and others 2 seats.
Leaving it to the people of Odisha to judge whether he is an outsider, Pandian said the BJP has no right to talk about Odia ‘Asmita’ and pointed out that the honorable Biju How Patnaik – who, in fact, is not from Odisha – was deemed fit for an Indian.
Speculations are rife that Naveen may vacate a seat for Pandian, who has been contesting from two assembly seats – Hinjili and Kantabangi.
Political analysts see it as a calculated risk by Naveen (77), who is seeking a sixth term, to elevate Pandian from behind-the-scenes figure to star campaigner. “If the BJD does well, Pandian will gain legitimacy and grow. If it falters, the responsibility will fall on him because Naveen has never lost an election since he first became prime minister in 2000,” Ut said. said Surya Nayaran Mishra, retired professor of political science at Cal University.
“This is a test case for Odisha’s electoral politics as nothing like this has happened in the past,” said RK Satapathy, another retired political science professor at Northeastern University. “If the BJD performs well, Naveen will create history by becoming the longest-serving CM in a few months. Pandian’s acceptance will also increase. For a majority of voters who are content with freebies, it won’t matter who is at the helm . But I doubt that politically conscious people will accept him,” he said.
