Bhubaneswar: Former bureaucrat Sujata Rout Karthikeyan, wife of former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik's aide VK Pandian, on Thursday formally joined the BJD.
Patnaik announced her induction after a meeting at Sankha Bhawan, the BJD headquarters here.
"I would like to welcome Sujata Rout as a simple member of the party. She is a former IAS officer," Patnaik told reporters.
Asked about the party's future leadership, Patnaik said he would continue to lead the BJD into the next elections.
Sujata, a native of Kendrapara district, said she would work for the people of the state with sincerity.
An IAS officer of the 2000 batch, Sujata resigned from the civil services on March 13, 2025.
She is widely credited with the expansion of Mission Shakti, the women's empowerment programme of the previous BJD government.
Her entry into active politics comes after her husband, bureaucrat-turned-politician Pandian, announced his withdrawal from active politics following the BJD's defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha and the state assembly elections.
While Pandian stepped away from politics after the electoral setback, Sujata continued in the bureaucracy before resigning around nine months after the BJP formed the government in the state.
Some senior BJD leaders had earlier opposed her entry and blamed Pandian for the party's poor performance in the 2024 elections.
