Naveen Patnaik’s Man Friday VK Pandian Back In Action, Gets A Call From Venezuela President

After two years of keeping a low profile, Odisha’s most powerful ex-bureaucrat and Biju Janata Dal leader V K Pandian is making waves beyond Indian shores. Reportedly, Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez who just experienced two devastating earthquakes asked Pandian to fly to Venezuela to seek his expertise on how to handle natural disasters. Venezuela President had two objectives to learn from Odisha’s playbook: One, how Pandian — one of the architects of Odisha’s disaster management — handled the cyclone and disaster response protocols had zero casualty and lessons for her country from Odisha. Sources say Pandian used this visit to raise his personal profile. Pandian’s supporters are looking at this development as a “proud moment of knowledge sharing for India on the global stage.” The net takeaway from Odisha is that people are comparing Naveen Patnaik’s governance style with that of the current chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi.