IAS officer V K Pandian, the former private secretary of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, was on Tuesday appointed as Chairman 5T (Transformation and Initiatives) and Nabin Odisha in the rank of Cabinet Minister.
In a move that came as no surprise, VK Pandian had taken voluntary retirement from government service on Monday. The Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, had approved his request for a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), waiving the notice period as recommended by the state government.
Pandian, who also served as 5T Secretary to the State Government, had taken centre stage in the Naveen Patnaik government with not only the bureaucracy but also the entire Biju Janata Dal (BJD) looking up to him as the representative of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
While till 2019 elections, Pandian chose to stay behind the curtains, the massive mandate spurred him to step out of the shadows and become the face and voice of Naveen Patnaik. He has ever since been hailed as Naveen’s political strategist with full control of the government and BJD politics. Naveen too made no bones about conveying the message that Pandian was his blue-eyed boy.
After Patnaik became the chief minister for the fifth time in 2019, Pandian was given the additional responsibility of implementing some transformational initiatives in government departments. His sharp political acumen was reflected in the creation of the 5T Initiatives Department which subsumed all wings of the government making them reportable to him. With Naveen reposing his complete trust in Pandian, the IAS officer gave shape to grand projects and programmes of the government aligning with BJD’s political goals.
Since 2019, all the mega projects such as Sri Jagannath Heritage Corridor, temple redevelopments across the state, school and college transformation programmes, health sector initiatives, rural and urban transformation etc have been his brainchild and conducted under his direct supervision.
The 2000-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre began his bureaucratic career as the sub-collector of Dharmagarh in Kalahandi district in 2002.
He was appointed the collector of Mayurbhanj district in 2005, and then in 2007, he was made the collector of Ganjam. It was during his posting in Ganjam that he became close to the chief minister. Patnaik is originally from the Ganjam district.
Pandian joined the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) in 2011, and since then, he has been Patnaik's private secretary.
The opposition BJP and Congress had asked him to resign and "officially join the BJD" after he went on a whirlwind tour across the state during which he held 190 meetings to hear public grievances.
As the state BJP came all guns blazing, criticizing his authority as an IAS officer to conduct programmes with blatant political overtones, his tours were also questioned by senior BJD leader and MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik. The controversy was set to rest with Naveen clarifying that the IAS officer was his representative, sent by him to listen to people and solve their issues at their doorsteps.
(With inputs from PTI)
