Outgoing Odisha Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik on Saturday defended his close aide VK Pandian amid widespread criticism of Tamil Nadu-born former bureaucrat for the first electoral defeat of the regional party since its formation 27 years back.

Many, including BJD’s diehard supporters, were of the view that Patnaik committed the cardinal miscalculation by grooming Pandian as his heir apparent and by empowering the non-Odia to singlehandedly manage the party affairs and electioneering.

Pandian factor was fully capitalized by the BJP raising the Odia pride and identity issue to dethrone regional satrap earning the rare distinction of being India’s longest serving Chief Minister.

Speaking to reporters here, Patnaik brushed aside the allegations leveled against him saying that “he (Pandian) is a person of integrity and honesty and should be remembered for that.”

Patnaik, who lost both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls for the first time in his near-three-decade-old political career, reiterated that Pandian is not his successor.

“I have always clearly said, when asked about my successor, he is not my successor and the people of Odisha will decide who will succeed me,” he said.

“It has come to my notice that there has been some criticism of Mr Pandian. This is unfortunate. As an officer, he did excellent work in many fields in the last ten years helping the government in successful management of two cyclones and the COVID-19 pandemic in our State. After this good work, he retired from the bureaucracy and joined BJD and contributed largely to that by doing excellent work. He is a person of integrity and honesty and should be remembered for that,” he said, defending his trusted aide.

Mr Pandian has also done good work in health, education, sports and in the programme of temple restoration. He joined the party; he has not held any post and did not fight elections, Patnaik said.

Commenting on the electoral defeat, he said: “In democracy, you either win or lose, so having been defeated after a long time, we must take the verdict of the people gracefully. I have always said 4.5 crore people of Odisha are my family and will continue to serve them whichever way I can.”

Rubbishing the speculation on his health issues, he clarified: “There have been some questions on my health. I want to say categorically that my health has always been fine and continue to be so. In the last month I have done hectic campaigning in the heat and that should be enough to give a verdict on my health.”