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Ahead of polls, Naveen Patnaik’s secretary ends tour of all constituencies
The opposition parties have accused V K Pandian of canvassing for the ruling BJD on the pretext of listening to the grievances of the people
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s private secretary V K Pandian on Thursday completed tours of all 147 assembly constituencies in the state bringing an end to his six-month-long visit to all the districts in the state amid criticism and protests by opposition parties.
The 2000 batch IAS officer began his tour from tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district in March, where he discussed with the local people about their pressing problems, and visited heritage tourism sites to review the development of their infrastructure under the 5T (Transparency, Technology, Teamwork, Time, Transformation) programme. He visited the district again this month to review the progress of various developmental work in the district and redressal of public grievance.
In the last six months, he has visited all the 30 districts of the state, many of them twice like Mayurbhanj district. During his visit to Puri district last month, which he visited twice, a man threw ink on his face during a meeting in a college. Unfazed by the ink attack, he carried on with rest of his engagements.
Clad in a full sleeve untucked white shirt and tight trousers Pandian’s visit have created a buzz in the state’s politics as he reviewed construction of roads, bus stands or renovation of temples amid fanfare. After the meetings, Pandian held grievance redressal meetings where he received petitions from people. In many of the meetings in districts, the CM’s secretary invariably met members of the women self help groups (SHGs) who have turned out to be the biggest support base for the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in last few assembly polls. The 70 lakh women in more than 6 lakh SHGs are a significant vote bank for the BJD. In almost all the meetings he spoke about accomplishments of the chief minister. He also visited local temples.
While there have been protests from opposition parties about Pandian’s visits who allege that he is canvassing for the ruling BJD on the pretext of listening to the grievances of the people, BJD leaders said that the ongoing district-wise meetings were meant to gauge the mood of the people as well as to assess the organisational strength. Since beginning of 2023, the party has been preparing well for early assembly polls.
“As the head of the administration, Naveen Patnaik entrusted him some responsibilities. He has the right to assign any government official any work. He is only carrying out the goals set by CM,” said BJD leader Prasanna Acharya.
However, there have been voices of protests from within his party as well as opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress. BJD MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who owns and edits the popular Odia daily Sambad, last week slammed the district visits by Pandian as he compared the expenses being incurred for the district visits with India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission. “Around ₹600 crore was spent on the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s Chandrayaan-3 mission. By the time the 5T secretary ends his district visit, we would see similar expenditure on his visit,” he wrote.
BJP state vice-president Biranchi Tripathy too criticised the visit saying when the elected MLAs are there to listen to the grievances of people, why is a bureaucrat, moving in a helicopter spending crores of rupees. “It seems that he has a political motive. This is a clear violation of the All India Service Conduct Rules,” said Tripathy.
Similarly, former chief secretary and senior Congress leader Bijay Patnaik alleged that a parallel system has been created. “The dignity of offices of the chief secretary, development commissioner and department secretaries has been demeaned,” he alleged.
Political analysts former political science professor of Sambalpur University, Satya Prakash Dash said, “There are several ways in which politicians work to remain in office. If Naveen Patnaik is sending his officer to review developmental projects and understand the situation on ground I see nothing wrong in that. This would galvanise the state machinery as well as the BJD leaders on ground.”
The assembly elections in Odisha are due in May 2024. However, CM Patnaik has told party observers of eight districts at a review meeting on Wednesday that they should be prepared for the possibility of assembly elections later this year, according to BJD leaders familiar with the matter.
