VK Pandian, aide of Naveen Patnaik, says he is quitting politics after BJD’s Odisha polls loss

Bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian, a close aide of former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, on Sunday announced that he was quitting active politics, The Indian Express reported.

This came five days after Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal lost in the Odisha Assembly elections and failed to win in the Lok Sabha polls as well.

“Now consciously, I decide to withdraw myself from active politics,” Pandian said in a video message posted by ANI on X. “I am sorry if I have hurt anyone on this journey. I am sorry if this campaign narrative against me has had a part to play in BJD’s loss.”

During the election campaign, the Bharatiya Janata Party had targeted Pandian for his Tamil identity even as Patnaik had clarified that Pandian was not his political successor and that the former bureaucrat did not contest the elections.