Bhubaneswar: After Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, VK Pandian is said to be Odisha’s power centre. Till May 2012, Mohapatra was Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s confidant and political advisor, and considered as the Chanakya of Odisha politics.
But now, its Pandian regime. Be it the State administration or Naveen’s BJD, nothing moves without Pandian’s approval. Odisha in the last two decades or so has witnessed a rather abnormal administrative arrangement. Under it, the elected CM has gradually receded to the background with all levers of state power being increasingly wielded by his secretary. It has made Pandian extremely powerful. Having packed the ruling party leadership with his men, his word is law. Even bureaucrats senior to him defer to him.
Even though during Mohapatra’s period, party leaders were allowed to meet Naveen, but it’s a big ‘No’ for leaders during Pandian’s regime. Imagine the situation for public who want to ventilate their grievances to Naveen. The Chief Minister has reportedly not visited his grievance cell for the last many years.
But how did he outwit most other senior politicians? Is he being projected to be the successor of Naveen? These questions have all been intensely haunting the people of Odisha since last year when he took voluntary retirement from his bureaucratic role and joined the BJD. With this, he has been appointed to the rank of a cabinet minister and he reports directly to Naveen. Pandian becomes the poster boy of the BJD in the 2024 election campaign without being a candidate.
Opposition leaders are alleging that Pandian, a Tamilian who came to be posted in Odisha only after marrying an Odia IAS officer, is the key person in handing over contracts of mega projects to Tamil Nadu-based companies. B Prabhakaran, a contractor from Tamil Nadu, carved out an enormous mining empire in Odisha with the help of Pandian. Prabhakaran, who belongs from Salem district of Tamil Nadu, is now the alpha male of mining in Odisha. His company, Thriveni Earthmovers, is the largest raising contractor in the State, they alleged.
Pandian’s Rise to Power: The Timeline
- 2000: Began his career as an IAS officer in Punjab cadre
- 2000: Got married to his batchmate Sujata, who was from Odisha
- 2001: Made inter-cadre transfer and got Odisha cader
- 2002: Pandian got his first posting – Sub-Collector of Dharamgarh in Kalahandi district
- 2004: Additional District Magistrate in Rourkela
- 2005: District Collector of Mayurbhanj
- 2007: District Collector of Ganjam
- 2011: Appointed as Private Secretary to Chief Minister
- 2019: Appointed as Secretary 5T
- October 2023: Took voluntary retirement from his bureaucratic role
- November 2023: Joined the BJD
Pyari Babu Chapter:
Mohapatra, a career bureaucrat, came into Naveen’s life in 1997 soon after the BJD leader landed in Odisha after the death of his father Biju Patnaik. Having spent almost his entire life outside the state, Naveen did not know anyone when he came to Odisha. During Biju Patnaik’s tenure as chief minister between 1990 and 1995, Mohapatra worked as his principal secretary, and was the eyes and ears of the legendary politician.
With no friends in Odisha, a political greenhorn Naveen turned to his mother Gyan Patnaik, who advised him to seek the help of ‘Pyari babu’. Mohapatra paved the way for Naveen’s smooth ascension to the throne in 2000 when he engineered the expulsion & subsequent political checkmating of Bijoy Mohapatra, the chairman of BJD’s political affairs committee shortly before the assembly elections. From early 2000, Mohapatra scripted almost all the moves of Naveen, including advising him on day-to-day running of the state.
Naveen sent Mohapatra to Rajya Sabha in 2004. The Bharatiya Janata Party was an ally of BJD, but Mohapatra convinced Naveen to dump it just ahead of the 2009 assembly polls citing that the saffron partner had become a political liability in the wake of Kandhamal riots in 2008. While everyone said the move was suicidal, Mohapatra helped the BJD win 109 of the 147 seats in the assembly.
Mohapatra fell from grace on May 29, 2012 when he allegedly tried to engineer a coup in the party while Naveen was away in London on his first overseas trip after becoming CM. Soon after Naveen returned from London, he suspended Mohapatra and a few others from the party. Later Mohapatra formed Odisha Jana Morcha (OJM) party, but it bit the dust in 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. He receded to further political oblivion in 2016 when his Rajya Sabha tenure ended. Mohapatra passed away after prolonged illness in March 2017.
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