As V K Pandian exits, what next for Naveen Patnaik, BJD?

“I am sorry if the campaign narrative against me had a part to play with the BJD’s loss. I apologise to the entire Biju Parivar, including all the karmis (workers),” Pandian said in a video message posted on his Instagram page on Sunday. More than development and governance, the poll campaign and the BJP’s attacks focussed on the Tamil Nadu-born bureaucrat and his alleged control over Patnaik and the party. From questioning his rise in the party to the “missing” keys of the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of Puri’s Jagannath Temple to the alleged conspiracy behind Patnaik’s “deteriorating health”, the BJP found different ways of targeting Pandian.

Pandian is not the first BJD leader and Naveen’s close aide to whom the former CM delegated the power to run the government and party. By the time, Naveen was thrust into the limelight after his father Biju Patnaik’s death, he was 51. From 2000 to 2012, former IAS officer Pyari Mohan Mohapatra was the BJD second-in-command who took all major decisions, including the dissolution of the government in 2004, a year before its tenure was set to end. It enabled the BJD to go to polls simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls, proving to be an advantage for the regional party in the subsequent elections.

Naveen Patnaik with VK Pandian

But this came to an end in 2012. During an overseas tour to London, Patnaik cut short his visit and returned to Bhubaneswar to take control of the party and government amid allegations that Mohapatra was plotting to topple his government. On his return, he sacked Mohapatra. Pandian quickly rose through the ranks then and by 2014 he was said to be running things in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

Even though many of Patnaik’s once close aides — Baijayant “Jay” Panda, Damodar Rout, Pradeep Panigarhy — questioned Pandian’s growing influence, Patnaik defended the then IAS officer and gradually sidelined these leaders from the party. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when Patnaik mostly confined himself to Naveen Niwas, his residence, and curtailed his public appearances, Pandian remained with Patnaik and toured across the state as his emissary.

Pandian came into the limelight after the 2019 election when Patnaik assumed power for the fifth straight term. He was appointed secretary of the 5T (teamwork, technology, transparency, time leading to transformation) initiative. During the pandemic, Pandian, along with senior officers, toured the state to prepare health infrastructure. Though the BJD appointed Jajpur MLA Pranab Prakash Das, popularly known as Bobby, as the organisational secretary in 2020, considered to be the number two position in the party, Pandian was believed to be taking all decisions through him.

Even as mystery shrouds what Pandian will do next, the former IAS officer, in the video, said he would always “keep Odisha in the core of his heart” and his “guru, Naveen Babu, in his breath”.

BJD insiders who in a recent meeting with Patnaik demanded that the “invisible barrier” between them and the party chief be removed said Pandian might not continue to enjoy the kind of influence he used to have before polls even if he continues to remain by Patnaik’s side.

This also sets the stage for others to occupy the vacuum around Patnaik as he attempts to navigate five years out of power and secure the party’s future. As of now, there are signs of Patnaik again taking direct control of the party. During the review meeting, Patnaik formed a committee to look into the reasons for the BJD’s poll debacle. “The BJD still has a strong base and will bounce back if Naveen babu is there for us. We do not need any second person,” said a senior BJD leader.

But for the party and its leader, sitting in the Opposition will be a major challenge and among the key decisions that Patnaik — who lost from Kantabanji and narrowly scraped through in his traditional seat Hinjili — has to take is appointing a Leader of the Opposition who can lead the charge and set the tone for the party’s revival in the coming years.

For Patnaik, who has not had to engage in the rough and tumble of protests and movements, keeping its Legislature Party intact will be another big challenge. On Sunday, the BJP’s Khurda MLA Prasanta Kumar Jagadev, who was earlier with the BJD, said 25 BJD MLAs would soon join the party.

BJD insiders said though Patnaik had reiterated that there were no problems with his health, his advanced age poses a big challenge as he has not groomed his successor and now with Pandian gone this question is up in the air. Earlier, whenever he encountered the question of choosing a successor, Patnaik maintained that the people of Odisha would choose his successor.