We Must Gracefully Accept People’s Verdict, Says Naveen Terms Criticisms of Pandian Unfortunate

Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal President Naveen Patnaik on Saturday said that his party has accepted the people’s verdict in the recently concluded elections gracefully and termed the criticisms of senior party leader VK Pandian unfortunate.

Giving his remarks on the poll results, he said, “That is in the people’s hands. In a democracy, you either win or lose. Having been defeated after a long time, we must always take the verdict of the people gracefully. I have always said that the four and a half crore people of Odisha are my family and I will continue to serve them in whichever way I can.”

The criticisms of senior party leader VK Pandian are unfortunate, Naveen said.

The BJD President said, “It has also come to my attention that there has been some criticism of Mr. Pandian. This is unfortunate. As an officer, he did excellent work. He did an excellent job helping with the two cyclones and the COVID-19 epidemic in our state. Later, he retired from bureaucracy and joined my party and he has contributed largely to that by doing excellent work. He is a person of integrity and honesty and he should be respected for that”.Naveen further said that Pandian is not his “successor” and pointed out that the people of the state would decide on this.

“I would like to say that Mr Pandian has also worked and helped in health, education, sports, and our programme of temple restoration. Mr Pandian joined the party but has not had any posts. I have always clearly said that when they asked me about my successor, I said clearly that it was not Mr. Pandian. I repeat it. The people of Odisha will decide my successor,” Naveen said.

The BJD supremo has also expressed gratitude towards the people of Odisha.

He said, “My deep gratitude to the people of Odisha, for blessing me time and again, showering me with their blessings. Also, I think that we have always tried to do an excellent job and we have much to be proud of in our government and our party.”