Ending days of hypothesis, former bureaucrat VK Pandian, who served because the non-public secretary to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, formally joined his celebration, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), on Monday.
Pandian joined the celebration within the presence of Patnaik and different BJD leaders at Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar.
The event got here after Pandian took voluntary retirement from the Indian Civil Providers on October 23. The Centre accepted Pandian’s voluntary retirement, following which he assumed the function of the chairman of 5T (Transformational Initiatives) and ‘Nabin Odisha’ within the Odisha authorities.
After taking voluntary retirement, there was chatter within the political circuit of Odisha over the possible entry of Pandian in politics.
Pandian’s induction into the BJD holds significance for the celebration forward of subsequent yr’s Lok Sabha polls. The celebration has began strengthening its organisational items in varied constituencies to take care of its profitable streak in Odisha. Pandian had earlier attended conferences in all districts of Odisha to evaluation developmental tasks.
A 2000-batch IAS officer, Pandian is a local of Tamil Nadu and commenced his profession as a Dharmagarh sub-collector and later served because the collector of assorted districts. Becoming a member of the Chief Minister’s Workplace (CMO) in 2011, he held the place of personal secretary to the Chief Minister for the previous 12 years.
Pandian confronted criticism from the Opposition throughout his tenure because the 5T Secretary and Personal Secretary to the Chief Minister, accused of partaking in politics whereas in civil service.
Earlier this yr, he attracted scrutiny for in depth excursions and addressing massive public conferences in a number of districts of the state.