Unfair To Criticise V K Pandian, Naveen Patnaik Breaks Silence After Poll Debacle In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Breaking his silence on BJD’s poll debacle in Odisha, outgoing Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday said in a democracy you will either win or lose and we must always take the verdict of the people gracefully.

The BJD supremo said the 4.5 crore people of Odisha are his family and he will continue to serve them whichever way he can. “My deep gratitude to the people of my state of Odisha for blessing me time and time again, showering me with their blessings and permitting me to serve them. Also, I think we have always tried to do an excellent job and we have much to be proud of in our government and our party,” Naveen told media.

He further said, “In a democracy you know you either win or you lose. So having been defeated after a long time we must always take the verdict of the people gracefully.”

Clarifying his stance on his succession, the five-time CM said V K Pandian is not his successor and it is the people of Odisha who will decide who will be his successor.

“It has also come to my notice that there is being some criticism of Pandian. This is unfortunate. As an officer, he did excellent work in many fields in the last ten years helping with the two cyclones and the COVID-19 epidemic in our state. After this good work he retired from bureaucracy and joined my party and has contributed largely by doing excellent work. He is a person of integrity and honesty and should be remembered for that,” he said.

Applauding Pandian for his contribution to the state, Naveen said Pandian also helped government in health, education and sports and also in temple restoration programme.

Busting rumours about his deteriorating health, the BJD chief said that if he was not in good health how could he have campaigned in the heat last month. “There have been some questions on my health. I want to say categorically that my health has always been fine and continues to be so. You have seen in the last month I have done hectic campaigning in the heat and that should be enough to give a verdict on my health,” Naveen said.