Nowadays an IAS officer is being discussed the most in the politics of Odisha as compared to the problems there. A group of bureaucrats and opposition parties say that an IAS officer VK Pandian is running the state’s power. However, the Naveen Patnaik government is rejecting these allegations. The growing influence of a bureaucrat in the Odisha government has sparked a heated debate, with both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress demanding action against him. V K Pandian, who has been chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s personal secretary for the past 12 years, is also under question. Both the BJP and the Congress have turned their attention to V K Pandian, who has been accused of violating his authority.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which comes under the central government, took ‘ cognisance of a complaint filed by BJP leaders against “an IAS officer’ The DoPT immediately sent a notice to the Chief Secretary of Odisha, requesting an inquiry into the matter. In a letter to the DoPT secretary, former state chief secretary and Odisha Congress leader Bijay Patnaik cited several incidents against Pandian and demanded a probe.
While Pandian has long been a behind-the-scenes figure in the Naveen Patnaik government, he recently came into the limelight by playing a more public role. At a public meeting held at Barpali in Bargarh district on Monday, Pandian played an audio recording of the chief minister addressing the people, saying he had sent his personal secretary to understand their grievances. The audio was shared by BJD leaders on social media.
Though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is yet to respond to these allegations, his office has been disseminating information and photographs of Pandian’s visits. At a press conference held on the same day, , BJP MP from Bargarh Suresh Pujari said, “The functions and duties of constitutional posts like prime minister or chief minister cannot be delegated to anyone.
Who is VK Pandian??
V K Pandian, a 2000 batch IAS officer originally from Tamil Nadu, had served as collector of Mayurbhanj and Ganjam (CM’s home district) before being appointed as Naveen Patnaik’s personal secretary in May 2011.
In recent years, Pandian has been regarded as the key strategist behind the Odisha government’s focus on sports and development of sports infrastructure in the state. As a result, , Odisha has been chosen to host several international sporting events, including two consecutive men’s hockey World Cups.
Since 2019, Pandian has been directly overseeing the Naveen Patnaik government’s 5Tinitiative as well as the “Mo Sarkar” programme, , which aims to get public feedback. The recent campaign launched by the BJD government to transform schools, temples and infrastructure projects is believed to be the brainchild of Pandian.
What’s the controversy lately??
Last week, BJP MP from Bhubaneswar and party’s national spokesperson Aparajita Sarangi had raised questions about the presence of a secretary-level officer attending public meetings without the chief minister’s permission. Sarangi, who resigned from the IAS in 2018 to join politics , highlighted the officer’s involvement in meetings usually reserved for politicians.
During a rally in Kalahandi district, BJP national president J P Nadda criticised the Odisha administration, saying it has been outsourced to the bureaucracy. These comments further fuelled the ongoing debate around the influence of bureaucrats in the governance of the state.
Stepping up pressure on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, BJD vice-president and Khandpara MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik expressed concern over the alleged abduction of the regime by a section of bureaucrats.
In his column in The Sambad Daily, which is owned by the chief minister himself, Patnaik urged Naveen to respond to the opposition’s allegations that “governance in Odisha has been hijacked by a section of bureaucrats” he also asked Sarangi to address the issue to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Soumya Ranjan Patnaik’s remarks caused a stir in the BJD centred around Naveen Patnaik. Responding to the criticism, former MLA Anubhav Patnaik dismissed the party vice president’s remarks, calling it a “typical blackmailing tactic’ ‘ adopted by the editor-politician.
The divide within the BJD is growing over the issue, with some members raising concerns about the influence of bureaucrats, while others downplay the allegations and defend the chief minister’s preference for advisers. A senior BJD functionary criticised Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, saying he had nothing to show except being the son-in-law of late chief minister J B Patnaik.
RCP Singh was right hand of Nitish Kumar in Bihar
Pandian is not the first bureaucrat to win the trust of a chief minister. When Nitish Kumar became chief minister in 2005, he made IAS officer Ramchandra Prasad Singh, popularly known as RCP Singh, his principal secretary. , Singh, a Uttar Pradesh cadre officer, was on central deputation. In 2010, Singh took voluntary retirement from the civil services to join the JD(U) and got a Rajya Sabha seat. He became the national president of the party and got a place in the Union Cabinet in 2021.
