Photo courtesy: ANI
New Delhi: Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai has questioned the role of V K Pandian in Odisha’s politics and criticised CM Naveen Patnaik for allowing the former bureaucrat to wield ‘significant power without accountability’.
“The basic rule in politics is to make natives own their land. Indian Prime Minister should be an Indian… But what is happening in BJD? Who is this V K Pandian? He was in Punjab cadre, then he moved to Odisha after marrying an Odia and he is controlling the state as a shadow Chief Minister. Can the DGP, Chief Secretary see the CM? No. They can only meet V K Pandian… How is this democracy? This is what the PM is asking,” Annamalai told PTI.
Earlier on Wednesday, Annamalai said that BJD is promoting an “outsider”, Pandian, who is a Tamilian, without respecting the people of Odisha and its culture. “V K Pandian has been the CM’s secretary for 12 years. So, now where did the keys of Ratna Bhandar go? We have promised that if the BJP comes to power in Odisha, the keys will be retrieved and sanctity of the Shree Jagannnath temple in Puri will be restored,” he said.
“Technically the CM of Odisha is V K Pandian. CM M K Stalin must know what is happening in India beyond his room. Will DMK announce a person who joins them from another state and is close to the CM as the CM candidate of Tamil Nadu? We talk about being the son of the soil in TN. Does it not apply in Odisha? How can it be wrong if the PM addresses this issue in Odisha?” he added.
He was reacting to Stalin’s allegation that the PM was inciting hatred with his remarks that the missing keys of Lord Jagannath’s treasury in Odisha had gone to Tamil Nadu.
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