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Journalism of Courage
What began as a whisper campaign about the “extraordinary influence” wielded by an IAS officer in the Odisha government has spilled into the open in the state, with the BJP and Congress both on one side. Their target: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s long-standing private secretary, V K Pandian.
On Tuesday, based on a complaint by BJP leaders against “an IAS officer”, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under the Union government sent a notice to the Odisha Chief Secretary.
The Congress too approached the DoPT, its complaint naming Pandian and accusing him of violation of service conduct rules. In his letter to the Secretary, DoPT, former state chief secretary and Odisha Congress leader Bijay Patnaik cited “multiple examples” against Pandian and demanded an inquiry.
Long a backroom boy in the Naveen Patnaik government, Pandian, 49, who is also the Secretary, 5T (an initiative named thus for ‘teamwork’, ‘technology’, ‘transparency’, ‘time’ for ‘transformation’), has lately attracted attention for stepping out of the shadows and adopting a public role.
On Monday, Pandian held a public meeting in Barpali in Bargarh district, where he played an audio of the CM telling the people that he had sent his private secretary to get to know their grievances. BJD leaders shared the audio on social media.
This appeared to be a bid to silence Opposition questions over Pandian’s recent visits to districts, where he has been addressing public meetings. The CM has not responded to these allegations, but the CMO has been putting out information and photographs of Pandian’s visits.
On Monday too, the CMO put out information regarding Pandian’s visits, including to a school where he spoke about the 5T initiative, and about the announcements he had made regarding projects such as a cancer hospital at Bargarh, and development of temples.
Soon after, BJP Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari said at a press conference: “The functions and duties of Constitutional posts like those of the Prime Minister or Chief Minister cannot be delegated to anyone.”
Allegations that Naveen Patnaik is overly reliant on bureaucrats to run his government are not new. An outsider to state politics when he floated the BJD after the death of his father, Naveen has had a string of loyal officials during his 23-year stint in power. None, however, has enjoyed the rapport with Naveen as Pandian has.
A 2000-batch IAS officer who originally belongs to Tamil Nadu, Pandian served as Collector of Mayurbhanj and Ganjam (the CM’s home district) before being posted as private secretary to Naveen in May 2011. He has continued in the post since, emerging as Naveen’s closest aide after the CM’s once key advisor and Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra’s decline in the party starting around 2012.
A retired IAS officer, Mohapatra worked with Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik earlier. Naveen sacked him from the party after an alleged coup attempt, while the CM was in London. The day of the coup, May 29, 2012, happened to be the birthday of Pandian.
In 2018, Baijayant Panda, the BJD’s well-known face in Delhi, left the party reportedly after a fallout with Pandian. Panda is now a BJP vice-president.
In recent years, Pandian has come to be seen as the key strategist behind the Odisha government’s focus on sports and development of sports infrastructure in the state, with the state being selected to host several international sporting events, including two consecutive men’s hockey world cups.
Since 2019, Pandian has directly supervised the Naveen government’s 5T as well as ‘Mo Sarkar’ initiative for receiving public feedback. The recent drive by the BJD government to “transform” schools, temples and infrastructure projects is also believed to be Pandian’s brainchild.
Last week, the BJP’s Bhubaneswar MP and one of its national spokespersons, Aparajita Sarangi, demanded to know from the CM whether “a Secretary-level officer” was attending public meetings with his permission. Sarangi, who resigned from the IAS in 2018 before joining politics, asked why this officer was attending meetings like politicians do.
During a rally in Kalahandi district last week, BJP national president J P Nadda said the administration in Odisha had been “outsourced to bureaucracy”.
On Sunday, the CM faced questions from within own ranks. In his column in The Sambad daily owned by him, BJD vice-president and Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik urged Naveen to clear the air on the Opposition’s allegation that “governance in Odisha has been hijacked by a section of the bureaucrats”.
He even asked Sarangi to raise the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the PM was the ultimate authority over the All India Administrative Service.
As Soumya Ranjan’s remarks sent ripples down the BJD, which is a one-man party revolving around the CM, the Khandapada MLA’s rival and former MLA Anubhav Patnaik said these were the “typical blackmailing tactics” of the editor-politician.
A senior BJD functionary said Soumya Ranjan had “nothing to show” for himself except being the son-in-law of the late CM J B Patnaik.
