In a big growth in Odisha politics, former IAS officer V Karthikeyan Pandian on Monday formally joined the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD). The 49-year-old former bureaucrat is alleged to be the close aide of Odisha Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik.
Pandian joined the occasion in the presence of the Chief Minister, state ministers, lawmakers and senior BJD leaders. The 2000-batch IAS officer, who sparked a number of controversies and was accused of violating the service rule, had taken voluntary retirement from authorities service on October 23 this 12 months.
Who is V Karthikeyan Pandian?
He was later appointed because the chairman of the state’s flagship 5T (transformational initiative) and Navin (new) Odisha scheme in the rank of cupboard minister to work immediately below the chief minister.
Pandian started his bureaucratic profession in 2002 because the sub-collector of Dharmagarh in Kalahandi district and was then posted because the collector of Mayurbhanj district in 2005. Later, he was appointed because the collector of Ganjam in 2007.
During his tenure in Ganjam, Pandian got here close to the CM and served as his personal secretary since 2011. Apart from being the personal secretary to the Chief Minister, Patnaik additionally gave him the extra accountability of the ‘5T secretary’ in 2019 to implement some transformational initiatives in authorities departments.
(With PTI inputs)
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