IAS officer V.K. Pandian, who is private secretary to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, on Saturday drove his boss to the venue of the Independence Day celebrations in what is being viewed as Patnaik’s complete faith in the officer.

Pandian, 46, was behind the wheel of the car which took the chief minister from Naveen Niwas to the Exhibition Ground around 3km away, a 10minute drive. Both Pandian and Patnaik wore masks.

Normally a government driver takes Patnaik to programmes and functions but he seems to have done away with his services temporarily in view of the pandemic. “Since Patnaik has complete trust in Pandian, he decided to go to the function with him. Pandian offered to drive him to the venue,” said a source.

Patnaik has restricted the visit of people to his residence with Pandian the only officer to have unrestricted access. Many believe Pandian has a say in all important political and administrative decisions.

“An IAS officer from Tamil Nadu, Pandian is not supposed to have any political interest in the state. Hence, he is trusted even more by Patnaik,” said a political analyst.

•An earlier version of the report erroneously gave the IAS officer's name as Naveen Pandian. We apologise for the mistake.