Naveen Patnaik has concrete plan to take Odisha to top; BJD to sweep polls: Pandian

Bhubaneswar: Asserting that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has a concrete plan to take Odisha to the top in all fields, his close associate V K Pandian has said it is a matter of time for migration from the state to stop completely.

In an exclusive video interview with PTI, Pandian also said the Biju Janata Dal will sweep the state in the ongoing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections as there was no match to the love of the people the chief minister commands.

"People are so much in love with him and they appreciate his work. They know the state is in safe hands and their progress is guaranteed with Naveen Babu at the helm of affairs," said Pandian, who served as the chief minister's private secretary before quitting his nearly 25-year-long bureaucratic career last year to join the BJD.

"He (Patnaik) does politics to serve the people, not to be in power. That difference also people understand," he added.

Asked if he has seen any fatigue in the chief minister after holding the position for five terms and now seeking a sixth, Pandian said, "If you do good work, how will any fatigue come? He goes to every election with a pro-incumbency wave." "His margins, vote share and seats have been increasing and in the last panchayat elections, he actually created a national record by winning all zila parishads for the BJD on its symbol. That is the kind of popularity he enjoys," Pandian added.

All surveys on the popularity of chief ministers also put him at number one in the country and he has been there for almost a quarter of a century, he said.

Pandian said the chief minister connects with his people through his commitment, hard work, dedication, sincerity and impeccable integrity, and it is very rare for anyone to possess all these qualities at the same time.

He also said that the BJD is definitely going to improve on its 2019 tally.

Odisha is going to polls together for 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state and its 147-member state Assembly.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJD won 12 seats, while the BJP got eight and the Congress just one.

In the assembly elections held the same year, the BJD's tally fell from 117 to 112, while that of the BJP rose from 19 to 23 seats. The Congress could get only nine seats, while others won in two Assembly constituencies.

On whether BJD would consider joining the government at the Centre or extend issue-based support like before if the BJP or the NDA falls short of numbers, Pandian said it would not be proper to go into hypothetical questions.

"One thing I've learnt from Naveen Babu is that during the election time, we should not talk about any hypothetical situation. The situation has to be clear.

"So in the middle of the election, we should not answer any hypothetical question, that would be my answer. That's one of my learnings from Naveen Babu even though I'm just a starter in politics," he added.

On how confident Patnaik is of these elections, Pandian said the chief minister enjoys a kind of connection with the people that he knows what the results are going to be.

"He is never deterred by any elections, be it panchayat, municipality, assembly or Lok Sabha. He has a connect with the people and he doesn't bother about polls," he added.

Pandian also said that the chief minister carries the same kind of enthusiasm and curiosity as the first time he saw him and his urge to learn and get things done for the state is unmatched.

On focus on sports in Odisha, Pandian said Patnaik believes that investment in sports is investing in the youth and investing in the youth is investing in the future.

"Sports also give that self-confidence. That's why our chief minister wants Odisha to be known for sports. At the same time, all kinds of possible negative diversions among the youth such as drugs and other such things get addressed when somebody is in sports," he said.

Pandian said Patnaik calls the next decade as the decade of youth.

"Odisha is going to celebrate its 100th year in 2036. He has concrete plans for 2024-2034 so that he has a two-year buffer period before Odisha reaches among the top states in the country in every field in 2036.

"We are already at the top in four-five fields, whether it's sports, disaster management, poverty alleviation or food production. But he wants Odisha to be at the top in all fields," he added.

On concerns raised in some quarters about large-scale migration from Odisha in the past, Pandian said the data from ILO, UNDP or even the government of India now shows that the rate of migration from Odisha has come down drastically.

"And the distress migration is completely down. Naveen Babu is taking all-out steps for that. In fact, we have one of the biggest skill development programmes in the country and Odisha is making a brand of 'Skilled in Odisha'.

"That's the kind of vision he has. Normal migration has come down. In fact, the unemployment rate is the lowest in Odisha as per the central government data. That's the kind of growth we are seeing. It's a matter of time that migration completely stops though these things take time," he added.