Last Updated: March 19, 2024, 16:54 IST
VK Pandian at CNN-News18’s Rising Bharat Summit. (News18)
The 5T secretary said neither Naveen Patnaik nor PM Modi need an alliance to come back to power
“Naveen Patnaik is a great soul and I thought I should do something as a disciple to help him reach out to people,” said the Odisha chief minister’s long-time aide and 5T secretary VK Pandian as he shared his thoughts on taking the political plunge and a possible alliance between the BJD and BJP at the Rising India Summit 2024.
“It’s a blessing to work with a great soul like him. It’s more of values. It’s not about a great leader doing great work. Many people will do great work. There may be great administrators and great planners. But Naveen Patnaik has a great soul. I consider it a blessing to be with him for more than a decade,” he said.
When asked why the BJD is planning to align with BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Pandian said: “Why does somebody join an alliance? Somebody joins an alliance to win elections, somebody joins an alliance because they want to have an impact on electoral math. But here is a chief minister who is so popular in the state and wins with 3/4th majority every time.
“Naveen Patnaik doesn’t need an alliance to come back to serve people. I would say the same thing about PM Narendra Modi. All surveys show he is going to become the prime minister again, and Patnaik will be chief minister undoubtedly. I think there are some things beyond politics. I see it as a mark of great statesmanship that two great leaders are wanting to come together for a great cause. It has no electoral value for either BJP or BJD.”
Prodded further, he said: “BJD does not need the BJP in the state, and BJP does not need us at the Centre… It is just about two people who share a great friendship.”
The issue of an alliance between the BJD and BJP came for discussion after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Odisha on March 5. The next day, the BJD held a meeting of its senior leaders.
Despite not being part of the ruling coalition, the Biju Janata Dal has voted with the government on contentious issues such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Goods, and Services Tax (GST), demonetisation, and the proposal for ‘one nation, one election’, as well as the polls for the President’s post, both in 2017 and 2022.
The two parties were allies from 1998 until 2009. Prior to becoming the chief minister, Naveen Patnaik was a union minister in late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet in the 1990s.