VK Pandian Gets Cabinet Rank After Quitting IAS: Can He Succeed Naveen Patnaik?

The IAS officer from Tamil Nadu has been given a Cabinet position that gives him power over every department.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has appointed former IAS officer VK Pandian to a cabinet level position

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

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Just four days after he applied for voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Services, former Odisha cadre IAS officer V Karthikeyan Pandian has been appointed to a Cabinet rank position directly reporting to Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.

Pandian has been given charge of the 5T or Five Transformational Initiatives and the Nabin Odisha scheme.

The 5T is an overall approach to governance in Odisha laid down by Patnaik that entails: “transparency, teamwork, technology and timeliness leading to transformation". Pandian was already the secretary in-charge for 5T before he took VRS.

The Ama Odisha, Nabin Odisha (Our Odisha, New Odisha) scheme is aimed at building infrastructure in villages through the Panchayats and making them units for the promotion of Lord Jagannath's culture.

By being made a cabinet rank official responsible for both these key initiatives, Pandian would now have power over all government departments. This piece will try and answer these questions:

• Who is VK Pandian?

• What makes Pandian so important to Naveen Patnaik?

• Does the new appointment mean Pandian is now Patnaik's successor?

Who Is VK Pandian?

Born in 1974, V Karthikeyan Pandian is originally from Madurai district in Tamil Nadu. He is reported to have done his schooling at the Neyveli Sports Hostel, set up by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. He is known to have been a keen sportsperson in school. This was a formative experience for him as years later he is said to have spearheaded Odisha's push towards sports, especially the promotion of hockey.

Pandian is known to be a fitness freak even now and is said to wake up at 4 AM to begin his exercise regimen.

After his schooling, Pandian came back to Madurai and did his BSc in agriculture from the Agriculture College and Research Institute in Madurai after which he moved to Delhi for his post graduation from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Delhi.

He cleared the UPSC examination and became an Odisha cadre IAS officer in 2000. Coincidentally, this was the same year that Naveen Patnaik took over as the chief minister of Odisha, a position that he holds till date.

Pandian's first posting was as sub-collector of Dharamgarh in Kalahandi district. According to a CMO press release, Pandian streamlined paddy procurement during his tenure.

His first assignment as collector was in tribal-concentration Mayurbhanj district in 2005.

His most crucial assignment as a young IAS officer was as collector of Ganjam between 2007 and 2011. It was here that he caught the attention of CM Naveen Patnaik.

Ganjam is a VIP district as it includes Patnaik's Assembly constituency Hinjili and his erstwhile Lok Sabha constituency Aska. According to the CMO release, Ganjam received an award for the best implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act twice during Pandian's tenure as collector.

Impressed by Pandian's work in Ganjam, Patnaik took him into the CMO in 2011.

What Makes Pandian Important to Naveen Patnaik?

The backstory which made VK Pandian Naveen Patnaik's most trusted aide, lies in 2012. Though in the CMO and rising up the ranks, Pandian was still a relatively junior bureaucrat at that time.

Calling the shots at that time was another former IAS officer - Pyari Mohan Mohapatra. Mohapatra used to be principal secretary to Naveen Patnaik's father Biju Patnaik when he was the CM. Biju Patnaik brought Mohapatra into politics and after his death, Mohapatra became a mentor-like figure to his son Naveen Patnaik.

It is said that Patnaik couldn't read or write Odia properly and it was Mohapatra who acted as the bridge between him and the government as well as the party.

(VK Pandian is known to be Naveen Patnaik's shadow)

(Sourced by The Quint)

In 2012, Naveen Patnaik was away in London for what was his first trip abroad as CM, when Mohapatra attempted a coup with a section of party leaders and allegedly the Congress.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had 104 MLAs in the 144-member Assembly. But Mohapatra could manage the support of only a little over 30. It is said that it was Pandian who managed to take control of a majority of MLAs and ministers and prevented Mohapatra from winning them over.

Pandian helped Patnaik quell what was his toughest challenge yet from within the party. This sealed Pandian's place as Patnaik's most trusted aide.

Being a serving IAS officer, not a former IAS officer like Mohapatra, as well as a non-Odia, Pandian could never be a threat to Patnaik and this assured the latter of his complete loyalty.

Pandian, on his part, also recognises that the power he wields stems from Patnaik and Patnaik alone. He has made it a point to instinctively know what Patnaik would want in a given situation and to defend to CM's interests at any cost.

Can Pandian Be the Successor to Patnaik?

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who has been a keen observer of Odisha politics, commented on Pandian's appointment in the Cabinet.

Jairam Ramesh reacted to Pandian's appointment. 

(Jairam Ramesh/X)

Incidentally, R Vineel Krishna, presently special secretary to the Odisha CM and one of Pandian's favourite bureaucrats, used to work closely with Jairam Ramesh when the latter was rural development minister.

Naveen Patnaik is 77 and though he claims to be healthy, there have been frequent rumours about his health.

Patnaik has been CM for 23 years now, less than a year short of becoming India's longest-serving CM.

So far, he hasn't projected anyone as his successor.

Could Pandian's appointment as a Cabinet rank official be a step in that direction?

This could be a tricky decision.

Despite his influence over both the administration and party, the truth remains that Pandian is not an Odia and is seen as an outsider.

Pandian has married an Odia, IAS officer Sujata Karthikeyan (nee Rout), presently managing director of Mission Shakti in the state. She hails from Kendrapara district. However, it will be tougher for Pandian to get acceptance compared to someone like Aparajita Sarangi, a Bihar-origin IAS officer who married an Odia and is presently the BJP MP from Bhubaneswar.

"As per our culture, a daughter-in-law will still be considered from the house but not the son-in-law. This logic will extend to the state as well," a BJD functionary who didn't want to be named, told The Quint.

Sources in the BJD say that the only way that Pandian could get acceptance is if Patnaik anoints him as successor formally and presents him as sort of an "adoptive son."

There is speculation that his appointment in the Cabinet is a step in that direction. However, the main significance of the move lies with the upcoming Assembly elections, due in six months time along with the Lok Sabha polls.

Naveen Patnaik is fighting for a sixth term as CM and he needs Pandian to both manage the implementation of key government schemes as well as manage the party. Patnaik also needs state affairs to be on auto-pilot as he may have to focus on a dynamic national political scenario.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is received by Governor of Odisha, S.C. Jamir and the Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik in Rourkela. (Photo: PTI)

"There are limits to how much he could have done as a bureaucrat, especially when it comes to political events. The new position will give him a free hand," the BJD functionary said.

In June this year, two bureaucrat-turned-politicians complained against VK Pandian's presence in political events.

On 24 June, Aparajita Sarangi filed a complaint with the Department of Personnel and Training alleging violation of All India Services norms by Pandian for allegedly attending political events. A similar complaint was filed a few days later by former chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik, now a senior Congress leader.

The DoPT asked the Odisha chief secretary to given an explanation on the matter.

Interestingly, there were noises of discontent from the BJD itself, with media baron Soumya Ranjan Patnaik writing in his column in newspaper Sambad that "governance had been taken over by a section of bureaucrats."

He also urged Sarangi to take up her complaint with PM Modi, who also handles the personnel department.

In a series of editorials, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik had also criticised frequent tours undertaken by Pandian and even compared the expenditure on them to the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

However, in September, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik was removed as vice-president of the BJD. Ten days later, he stepped down as editor of Sambad as well, appointing his younger daughter Tanaya Patnaik in his place.

During the entire tussle, the Economic Offences Wing of the Odisha Police raided the premises of Sambad following allegations that his company took crores of rupees as loan from banks in the name of more than 300 employees of the newspaper by using fraudulent means and forged documents.

The entire Sambad episode established Pandian's unchallenged power. However, in some ways, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik does stand vindicated with Pandian resigning from the services and joining politics full time, because that's exactly what the media baron had advised in one of his columns.

From this point onwards, the going will get much tougher for Pandian. He will no longer be judged only for the manner in which government schemes are implemented or on the way he protects Naveen Patnaik's chair. Now, the political success of the BJD rests on him.

He will be the main target for not just the Opposition but also many within the BJD.