Bhubaneswar: Former IAS officer VK Pandian, who joined the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha recently, will not contest the 2024 elections.

BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra revealed this soon after the regional party’s state executive body meeting in the capital city here today.

“VK Pandian has himself announced that he would not contest the 2024 elections in Odisha. He will work for the party in the next year’s polls as its active member,” Mishra said.

Former Balasore MP Rabindra Kumar Jena said Pandian will work for the BJD in all 147 Assembly constituencies in the state. “The former bureaucrat will work for strengthening the BJD in Odisha under the leadership of our party president Naveen Patnaik,” he said.

Notably, Pandian, a 2000-batch IAS officer, was working as the Private Secretary (5T) to the Chief Minister before taking voluntary retirement in October this year.

He was appointed as 5T (Transformational Initiatives) and Nabin Odisha chairman in the rank of a Cabinet Minister a day after his retirement from the administrative service.

Pandian formally joined the BJD on November 27. There were speculations that Pandian would enter electoral politics in Odisha in 2024.