‘BJP calls me a clerk. How can a clerk push for an alliance between a 24-year incumbent CM and the world’s largest party?’: V K Pandian
THERE IS hardly any election conversation in Odisha where his name doesn’t come up. Till recently a top bureaucrat, V K Pandian is now the virtual No. 2 of the ruling BJD in the state and the man who has the ears of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He is also the main target of the BJP’s attack, which hopes to stall the BJD in its home state, where it has been in power now for over 24 years. As the two parties, which briefly contemplated an alliance, now take on each other as prime rivals, Pandian recently said the BJP may try to form the government by any means if it gets 50-60 seats in Assembly polls. Excerpts from an interview with Pandian at Gopalpur, before he left for his day’s campaign:
Would you call the 2024 elections the toughest battle for the BJD?
Not at all. The toughest battle was the 2019 polls… because in the 2017 zilla parishad polls, the BJP had increased its tally significantly and won one-third of the parishad president posts. However, in 2022, the BJD won by a landslide, winning 30 of 30 zilla parishads. It’s their (the BJP’s) strategy to show that they are strong. But we are on the field and we know what’s happening.
The one issue that is dominating the political discourse is V K Pandian himself.
If the entire BJP is marking me, it’s good. I am not even contesting elections. It’s Naveen Babu’s election and I am happy that they are targeting me. Maybe I have diverted them (the rival parties) towards me.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that the BJP would take oath in Odisha on May 10, you countered saying Naveen Patnaik will be sworn in a day earlier. Why are you so confident?
In 2019, the PM had said at a rally that Naveen Babu would be getting his farewell… Three phases of the polls were completed (when the PM said it in 2019), and within two hours, the CM said the BJD had already got a majority even though one more phase of polling was pending…
Naveen Babu does his mathematics… That is the confidence and conviction with which he operates.
The BJP is attacking you as an outsider given your Tamil origins.
I don’t know what an outsider means when one is an Indian citizen. As a national party, the BJP must explain what they mean. I consider Odisha my karmabhoomi. If at all I have worked in this lifetime, I have worked for the people of Odisha… It is the motherland of both my children… my God is Lord Jagannath and my guru is Naveen Patnaik… People of Odisha will decide who is the outsider… When a party has no other issues like service delivery, administration, law and order, corruption or getting investments, it comes up with such narratives, of religion, region or nationalism.
What according to you is Odia Asmita or pride?
The state gets its identity from how it treats its people. Naveen Babu is giving the state health and education security. Odisha is known all over the world for its disaster management. We hosted two hockey World Cups… During Covid, Odisha helped other states by sending oxygen… From a food-insecure state, Odisha has become a food-surplus state. These are the issues which make Odisha pride swell.
Thirty-three percent of your Lok Sabha candidates are those who came over from the BJP or the Congress.
Whoever has faith in Naveen Babu’s leadership, we welcome them. Maybe the CM won’t take people whom he has removed for anti-people activities (earlier)… In fact, the BJP has the maximum number of imported leaders… Perhaps their CM face may also be a BJD import.
Why the emphasis on the ‘double conch’ (the BJD’s poll symbol) this time? Is it to have better bargaining power with the Centre?
Naveen Babu’s style is never to bargain. He wants both MPs and MLAs from the BJD for better delivery of work. Last time, eight BJP MPs were elected from Odisha but they never opened their mouths for Odisha. They in fact tried to stop rural housing and development works. They used Parliament as a platform to do that.
What do you think is the reason behind Naveen Patnaik’s longevity as CM?
He doesn’t do politics to be in power… he uses politics as a medium to serve people.
Are freebies by his government a big factor in his success too?
You can go through the manifesto of the BJP; it will take the state behind by 25 years. They have committed to something which will cost the exchequer Rs 1 lakh crore… This is how the Congress and BJP messed up the economies of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and other states (ruled by them)… In Odisha, the debt-gross state domestic product ratio is much below the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) norms… Giving health assurance is not a freebie, it’s a value investment. How do you help people increase their income? By cutting down on expenses.
Don’t you think Odisha lags in areas like creating employment opportunities?
It’s a process and you need an ecosystem for investment to come. Odisha’s time has come now. In the last three years, Odisha has been second in terms of getting manufacturing-based investment.
After the alliance talks with the BJP failed, its leaders claimed that you were the one pushing the same.
They call me a clerk. How can a clerk push for an alliance between a 24-year incumbent CM and the world’s largest political party? They should not take me seriously. It’s a dialogue between two statesmen for a larger cause, which couldn’t succeed.
Now BJP leaders are targeting you over issues of governance and corruption.
Whatever is said during elections by these political parties, nobody takes it seriously. People know that they do all this rhetoric- and narrative-building for votes.
What do you see as the future of BJD-BJP ties?
We are in the middle of elections. No hypothesis should be done now. Our focus is on serving the people and making Naveen Babu the longest-serving CM of the country.
Where is the Congress in the electoral scene?
From what I have seen in Odisha, they are struggling for survival, and people are using it (the party) to fix elections. This is very sad. Perhaps the leadership has not delivered.
Regional parties tend to revolve around one leader, and tend to collapse when that leader is gone. Do you see the BJD facing the same situation?
The BJD has more than one crore members. One can see the emotion with which the people connect to the party… As long as the people want progress, development and empowerment, they will associate with the BJD. As the CM has already said, the BJD is not a one-man party.
But who after Naveen Patnaik is a big question.
The CM has said that the people of Odisha will select the leader of the BJD. This party has grown thanks to the blood and sweat of lakhs of workers and Naveen Babu. He won’t allow it to be orphaned. He has plans. Contrast it to the BJP. We are in the middle of elections, they can’t come up with a CM face.
Do you see yourself as the political successor of Naveen Patnaik?
I would have laughed had someone told me last January that I would join politics. I joined because of my love, respect and commitment for the CM and the state. When I went to the field, I felt that the people were emotionally connected, which made me think about whether to continue in bureaucracy or to join politics… I live one day at a time.
Do you think it is right for bureaucrats to join politics?
I have never thought about it. Anyone with values, commitment to a larger cause, should be allowed to work for people. It’s not that only a certain set of people should do politics.
The BJD government is often called a show run by bureaucrats.
The Opposition has been making such allegations for 24 years, and questioning the CM’s functioning. It’s just political criticism… He has his Cabinet, he listens to the people. Had he not listened to the people, he wouldn’t have kept winning elections.
Many aides of Naveen Patnaik later found themselves sidelined. Do you have any such apprehension?
My relationship with the CM is not anymore professional or about work. I have an emotional connect with him. I consider him my guru. Whatever he does for me is good, and whatever he does is what I deserve.
There was a row recently involving your wife, followed by her transfer.
It’s not the first time… Such things continue, and I don’t get disturbed or perturbed. Maybe my children got disturbed, but they are very balanced and mature.
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