5T Chairman and former bureaucrat V Karthikeyan Pandian will not fight the 2024 election, informed senior BJD MLA Debi Prasad Mishra at a presser after the party's state executive meeting at Bhubaneswar on Friday.
While Mishra denied Pandian’s direct nomination filing in the next election. However, Mishra further said that there would be no issues if Pandian decides to contest the election.
“After so much rumours, Pandian today cleared his stand on fighting elections. He has said that he will not contest elections. Though there is no problem if he decides to contest, but people should refrain from spreading rumours,” Mishra said while addressing the media.
Pandian formally joined Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on November 27 at Naveen Niwas in the presence of party supremo Naveen Patnaik and other party leaders.
Pandian had earlier taken VRS from his service on October 23. He was made the Chairman of 5T (Transformational Initiatives) and ‘Nabin Odisha’ in the rank of Cabinet Minister a day after his voluntary resignation from the Indian Civil Services.