Who is Sujata Karthikeyan, BJD’s trusted bureaucrat and VK Pandian’s wife now facing EC action?
Sujata, who headed Odisha's crucial Mission Shakti department, was transferred by the Election Commission on Thursday based on a BJP complaint
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She also rolled out a scooter scheme for women, and sent members to foreign countries like Dubai and Singapore for learning and exposure. (Photo/X/@mission_shakti)Heading the Mission Shakti department ever since it was created by the Odisha government in June 2021, senior IAS officer Sujata R Karthikeyan, wife of bureaucrat-turned-politician V K Pandian, will no longer deal with women self-help groups comprising around 70 lakh members.
The Election Commission of India Thursday ordered her transfer from the Mission Shakti department to a non-public facing one after the BJP lodged a complaint with the poll panel, accusing her of being a “BJD agent”.
Sujata, a 2000-batch IAS officer, has been looking after Mission Shakti activities for more than six years. Before being appointed as the commissioner-cum-secretary of the department when it was created in June 2021, she was posted as director, Mission Shakti, when the directorate was functioning under the state’s women and child development department.
The department, and the women self-help groups, have a special significance for the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government.
A year after assuming charge as chief minister of Odisha, Patnaik introduced the programme in 2001. The aim was to form self-help groups among rural women and help them get institutional finance such as bank loans to take up various livelihood and micro-economic activities. Around 70 lakh women are organised under the programme as part of over six lakh groups.
The women are known to be the most “organised and loyal” vote bank of the BJD, and a key factor behind its successive electoral victories.
In return, the Patnaik government frames policies and schemes that place these women as top priority. The significance of the initiative is believed to be the reason the government posted Sujata, known to be the most trusted bureaucrat at the moment, to head the department.
According to top officials, the state government had given her a free hand to run the department. Some policy decisions she took – such as helping the groups become small and medium enterprises by supporting them with funds, training, infrastructure and exposure – made her particularly popular among members.
She also rolled out a scooter scheme for women, and sent members to foreign countries like Dubai and Singapore for learning and exposure.
A native of Baluria village under Pattamundei block in Odisha’s Kendrapara district, Sujata hailed from a lower-middle class family. She did her Masters in international politics and married V K Pandian, who hails from Tamil Nadu and was her batchmate in the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. They have two children. Though Pandian was initially allotted the Punjab cadre, his marriage with Sujata helped him change his cadre to Odisha.
According to the general administration department’s website, her home district has been mentioned as Jamshedpur, where her father works as a doctor. During her initial days as an IAS, Sujata served as collector of Cuttack and Sundargarh districts.
In November last year, the 2000-batch IAS officer was given the additional responsibility of handling the Odia language, literature and culture department. The posting was made keeping in mind the government’s decision to host the world Odia language conference in February.
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