VK Pandian 'formally' joins BJD amid speculations
Pandian, a native of Madurai, joined the party at Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar in the presence of BJD supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other ministers.
VK Pandian joins BJD in presence of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik
CHENNAI: Proving all the speculations right, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's close aide and the Chairman of 5T V Karthikeyan Pandian on Monday formally joined Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Pandian, a native of Madurai, joined the party at Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar in the presence of BJD supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other ministers.
This development came after VKP took VRS from his service on October 23.
A day after VKP's voluntary resignation from the Indian Civil Service, he was made the Chairman of 5T (Transformational Initiatives) and Nabin Odisha in the rank of Cabinet Minister.
Speaking to DT Next, a senior bureaucrat of Odisha said, "In the most important development in today's environment, VK Pandian has officially joined the BJD party. This is the major move in Odisha's political ground. No post in the party is given now. Anything can happen in the future."
Earlier, speculations were rife that VKP would join BJD and might be entrusted with a bigger role ahead of the 2024 Assembly polls in Odisha.
VKP, is a 2000-batch IAS officer, who started his career as Dharmagarh Sub-Collector and later served as Collector of different districts including Ganjam, Naveen Patnaik's own district and served as the private secretary to Patnaik from 2011 to 2023.
