VK Pandian, long-time aide of Naveen Patnaik and IT 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.”
With inputs from News18