‘He Is a Person of Integrity and Honesty’: Amidst Ongoing Flip-Flop Over Supporting Waqf Bill in Parliament, Naveen Patnaik Backs VK Pandian Again, Says He Should Not Be Blamed for BJD Activities

Bhubaneswar, April 9: Amidst the ongoing flip-flop over supporting the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, BJD president Naveen Patnaik told the party that his close aide VK Pandian should not be blamed for any of the activities in the regional outfit. This is for the second time within a year that Patnaik has come out in strong defence of Pandian. On June 8, 2024, when Pandian was blamed for the BJD’s defeat in elections, Patnaik had said, “He (Pandian) is a person of integrity and honesty.”

“As an officer, he (Pandian) did an excellent job in different fields over the last 10 years, be it during two cyclones or COVID-19 pandemic. After all the hard work, he retired from the bureaucracy and joined the BJD and did excellent work. He is a person of integrity and honesty and should be remembered for that,” Patnaik had then said. On Wednesday, Patnaik again backed Pandian and said, “I want to state clearly that Kartikeyan Pandian has done a lot of good work not only for the state, but also for the party. He shouldn’t be criticised or blamed for anything. He left the party more than 10 months ago and is not involved in any of its activities.” Patnaik Clean Chit to Aide Pandian in Waqf Issue, Says He Left BJD 10 Months Ago.

Patnaik’s remark comes at a time when a section of party workers have been demanding action against those responsible for changing the BJD’s official decision of opposing the Waqf Bill in the Rajya Sabha. A section of BJD workers on Monday had raised slogans shouting “Pandian Go Back” and “Save BJD”. The slogans were raised on Naveen Niwas premises. The bureaucrat-turned-politician was on the target of many leaders comprising both the seniors and juniors.

Even BJD’s deputy leader in the Assembly, Prasanna Acharya, is on the record saying that Sasmit Patra might have posted a message on X to vote on the Waqf Bill as per conscience, but he does not have the guts to change the decision of the Parliamentary Party, which resolved to oppose the Bill. He said some “external force” might be behind Patra’s X post. Rajya Sabha MP Debasish Samantray also defended Patra and blamed it on Pandian. Many other leaders also blamed Pandian though most of them preferred not to take his name.

The issue gathered further traction after former MLA Pravat Tripathy directly blamed Pandian for difficulties in the BJD, which provoked Patnaik to come out of Naveen Niwas to say, “I want to state here clearly that the ex-MLA was expelled from the party a few years ago because he was indicted in a chit-fund case and spent some years in jail. I want to clarify again that he doesn’t belong to the party”. As a group of leaders assembled at a hotel here and held discussions on the situation created in the aftermath of the Waqf Bill voting, Patnaik denounced their meeting. Anger over Waqf Bill Flipflop Refuses to Die Down in BJD, Patnaik Meets Senior Leaders.

“I would like to state here that I disapprove of any meetings in hotels held by party members. They have the party office ‘Sankha Bhawan’, which is a large building where they have been told and should hold their meetings,” Patnaik said. Due to the change of stand at the last moment, the Waqf Bill got support from some BJD MPs during the voting, with Patra in a social media post saying that “there was no whip on the members and they could vote as per conscience.” BJD in its Parliamentary Party meeting had earlier decided to oppose the Bill. The party’s young leaders including some MLAs also held another meeting outside Sankha Bhavan and submitted a memorandum to Patnaik through senior leader Debi Prasad Mishra. At the meeting, they expressed concern over the developments taking place in the party.