Journalists, police officers, leaders of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and members of various associations are meeting Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s “Man Friday” V.K. Pandian to express their support for him.

They are queuing up to congratulate the former IAS officer on his second innings as a public figure. Many are meeting on the excuse of submitting memorandums connected with the demands of the bodies they represent.

After his voluntary retirement on October 23, Pandian was appointed chairman of the two government initiatives — chairman 5 T (Transformational Initiative) and Nabin Odisha, a welfare scheme for the development of rural areas. He has been given the status of a cabinet minister.

Though Pandian plays a key role in the affairs of the BJD, he is yet to officially join the party.

Everyone these days is meeting Pandian at Naveen Nivas, the official residence of his boss, Naveen Patnaik.

“He is the Man of the Moment… why should we not meet him? The BJD is going to form the government. Whether he will be the chief minister or not is not important, but he will definitely be the main force behind the government. We must maintain the best of relations with him,” said a member of one of the employees’ associations who met Pandian recently.

Senior journalist Rabi Das told The Telegraph, “For a journalist seeking an appointment and meeting someone is not wrong. But making a queue to meet someone is not good in a democratic system. Those who want to be associated with power can queue up to meet Pandian, as he is the most trusted man of Naveen. These people also used to meet Pyari Mohan Mohapatra when he was calling the shots before 2011. Nothing wrong with that.”

Another journalist Sriram Dash said: “I was a part of the journalist delegation that met Naveen on Monday. We submitted a memorandum to Pandian. The memorandum addressed to Naveen sought welfare measures for journalists. What’s wrong in it?”

Sources in the BJD said a section of people are opposing Padian as he hails from Tamil Nadu. But Pandian, on his part, is trying hard to earn the goodwill of all.

“Pandian has set an example of development. During the last three years, he has been able to initiate a lot of developmental programmes which will be the trump card of the government in the elections. Be it development around the 12th century Shree Jagannath Temple or the development around the 11th century Lingaraj Temple at Bhubaneswar, his initiatives are quite visible. Besides several developmental programmes like new bus terminals at various places in the state, the launching of 1000 buses to ensure rural connectivity with focus on the development of panchayats are his handiwork. So what’s wrong in congratulating him.” said senior journalist Pradyumna Kumar Mohanty.

Another journalist argued that, “Merit should be given weightage. Have you ever seen an IAS officer reaching the work site early morning at 4am to review a project? He is the force behind the swift implementation of several projects. We must give credit to merit rather than debating on whether we should support him or not as he belongs to some other state.”

Pandian hails from Tamil Nadu and began his bureaucratic career in the Punjab cadre. He joined the Odisha cadre by virtue of his marriage with Sujata Rout, an Odia IAS officer. BJD general secretary Bijay Nayak said: “Pandian being in the administration for so many years is well aware of how to differentiate between the sycophants and genuine admirers.”