V Karthikeyan Pandian: Another Chanakya in Odisha politics? The jury is out

Women queuing up with flowers and bouquets, the blowing of the conch, and traditional drum beats — such a warm welcome for an officer in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) has of late been a common sight in Odisha. During his visits to Nabarangpur and Kendrapara districts, self-help group (SHG) members washed his feet, adorned his head with a tilak, and treated him to lunch at a Mission Shakti centre.

“We are lucky to have (V Karthikeyan) Pandian sir here. We ensured he received the treatment he deserved as a son-in-law,” an SHG member told a local news channel.
 

Pandian, who belongs to the 2000 batch, changed his cadre from Punjab to Odisha after marrying Sujata Rout Karthikeyan, who hails from Kendrapara and is now the Mission Shakti secretary.

The Tamil Nadu-born bureaucrat has been private secretary to Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik since 2011. In his latest (additional) role as the secretary to CM-5T (teamwork, technology, transparency, and time, leading to transformation), Pandian is touring the districts — sometimes on a state helicopter — where both officials and the public welcome him with a red carpet. He hears the people’s grievances and announces new projects.

Already up in arms over Pandian’s role in the government’s functioning, the recent episodes have prompted the Opposition — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress — to knock on the Centre’s doors, accusing the IAS officer of flouting the All-India Service Conduct Rules.

“It all started in the initial years of the Patnaik government,” said a retired IAS officer on condition of anonymity.

“Patnaik was innocent of admi­nistration and governance when he entered the thick of politics and subsequently became CM. So, he became dependent on extraneous support, which would keep him in power and safe from possible in-party dissent,” said the former bureaucrat, who was associated with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
 

Bijaya Bohidar, a retired political science professor and political commentator, agreed: “Once Patnaik tasted power without any political experience, he needed somebody to help him out.”

Patnaik found his go-to man in the late Pyarimohan Mohapatra, a retired IAS officer-turned-politician who was a close confidant of Biju Patnaik, the CM’s father. Touted as the Chanakya of Odisha politics, Mohapatra, however, went on to become an “extra-constitutional power centre”.

Even before the failed coup Mohapatra staged against him in 2012, Patnaik had smelled trouble and started looking for a non-Odia officer who could bail him out, and found the answer in Pandian.

As district collector, Pandian displayed his commitment to work: He won the Helen Keller Award for the rehabilitation of the specially abled in Mayurbhanj, and was recognised for his efforts to revive folk arts in Ganjam, the constituency of the CM, who also has a weakness for art and culture.
 

“Like the CM, Pandian preferred a low profile. He was also hesitant to claim credit for any initiative,” said a senior journalist who extensively covered the officer’s work.

A follower of the Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Pandian leads a disciplined life; he gets up at the crack of dawn, practises yoga, and leaves for the CM’s residence around 5.30 am before going to Kalinga Stadium for exercise, only to return home for a brief period so that he reaches work around 9.30 am.

“When several leaders, including those whom Patnaik expelled from the party, questioned the future of the government and the party over the CM’s deteriorating health, Pandian stood by him,” said Bohidar. 

But far from being media-shy, the officer is now hogging all the limelight. 

Bureaucrats-turned-politicians — BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi and Congress leader Bijay Kumar Patnaik — have written to the Centre, claiming that a secretary who is announcing schemes during field visits without following rules of expenditure sanction is liable for disciplinary action. The Centre has asked the state government to take action against Pandian. “The field visits of Pandian with senior officers and ministers under his command were the last nail in the coffin of a sound democracy,” the retired officer quoted above said. 

But Surya Narayana Mishra, political commentator and former academic, differed: “We haven’t seen the documents, so we can go by the CM’s assurance that he only sends the 5T in-charge to public meetings.”

During a public address last week, Pandian played an audio of the CM, where the latter was heard saying he had sent the IAS officer among the people to understand their problems and ensure welfare.

BJD MLA and Odia daily editor Soumya Ranjan Patnaik sought clarification from the CM in an editorial, saying Pandian’s conduct was against the primary notion of democracy that “delegated powers cannot be re-delegated”. But the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna Acharya argued the CM had never re-delegated his powers. “He has only entrusted the duties and responsibilities to CMO officials, which is very much within his remit,” the BJD vice-president told Business Standard, adding that the CMO was an institution and not about any individual.

With Assembly elections (to be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha polls in Odisha) only a year away, will this development dent the ruling party’s prospects? 

“The BJD’s manifesto is the state government’s policy document. A huge chunk of the Budget goes to popular policies to gain votes,” said a political expert. “The party leaders know people are voting for Patnaik, thanks to the bureaucracy’s outreach, and not them.”

The present situation is being compared to the time of Mohapatra, who allegedly created a coterie of obligated officers and ruled the state by proxy. Pandian’s increased popularity has fuelled speculation about his joining politics full time — eventually, possibly becoming heir to Patnaik’s political legacy.