Bhubaneswar: Former Odisha Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik is likely to join the Congress party.
This information was given by senior Congress leader Amiya Pandav through his social media handle on Wednesday. However, Patnaik was not immediately available for comment.
The former bureaucrat, who served as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s principal secretary for around six years, is likely to join the Congress at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, sources said.
A 1976 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, Patnaik retired as Chief Secretary of Odisha in 2013 after 37 years of public service.
He was the principal secretary to the Chief Minister from 2004 to 2010 and had served as Chief Secretary from September 2010 to 2013.
Later, he was appointed as the chairman of the Odisha Staff Selection Commission (2013-14) and then as a member of the Odisha Human Rights Commission.
Earlier in May 2022, there were speculations that Patnaik might join Congress. However, he had then made it clear that he was not interested in politics.
