Bhubaneswar: Only about seven months after joining the BJD, former bureaucrat V K Pandian on Sunday announced retirement from active politics amid the party’s shocking defeat in the recently-concluded twin polls in Odisha.
In a video message posted on his Instagram account, he also apologised to ‘Biju pariwar’, including all the workers, if they held him responsible for the electoral loss. “My intent of joining politics was only to assist Naveen babu and now consciously I decide to withdraw myself from active politics. I am sorry if I have hurt anyone on this journey. I am sorry if this campaign narrative against me has had a part to play in BJD’s loss.”
“I will alway keep Odisha in the core of my heart and my guru Naveen babu in my breath. I will pray to Lord Jagannath for their well being and prosperity,” he added.
The BJD suffered an embarrassing defeat in both Lok Sabha and Vidha Sabha elections in Odisha. The party drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections while its assembly seats crashed to 51 from 112 in 2019, bringing an end to Naveen Patnaik’s 24-year rule in the state.
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Pandian had earlier asserted that he would quit politics if party president Naveen Patnaik does not become the chief minister of Odisha for the sixth time after the assembly elections. “You (BJP) say that there is BJP wave and wave for a change in Odisha, but I strongly say that if the chief minister (Patnaik) does not become the CM again, I will take sanyas from politics,” he had said while addressing a rally at Brajrajnagar in Jharsuguda district.
The BJP had raked up the issue of ‘Odia Asmita’ as part of poll strategy to corner BJD in the state during the elections, targeting the rise of its star campaigner Pandian, the Tamil Nadu-born former IAS officer who was presumed to be the successor of BJD president Naveen Patnaik.
On Saturday, the BJD president, however, termed the ongoing criticisms against Pandian as unfortunate and added that he did an “excellent job”. He also asserted that the former bureaucrat was not his successor. “There has been some criticism of Pandian. This is unfortunate. He joined the party and has not held any post. He did not contest the elections from any constituency. I have always clearly said when asked about my successor that it is not Pandian. I repeat again that the people of Odisha will decide my successor.”
Pandian, the former former private secretary to the CM, was inducted into the BJD fold on Kartika Purnima (November 27, 2023), a month after he took voluntary retirement from All India Civil Services.
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