Bhubaneswar, April 9 -- Noting that VK Pandian has done a lot of good work for the state and the party, former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said that the former bureaucrat-turned-politician left the BJD over 10 months back and should not be blamed for anything.

Patnaik also said that V Kartikeyan Pandian is not involved in party work.

Patnaik's remarks have come over the row in the party on the split manner in which Biju Janata Dal MPs voted in Rajya Sabha on the Waqf Amendment Bill, which was later passed by Parliament and has become a law now. A section of the party had launched veiled attack on Pandian over the row.

"I want to state quite clearly that Kartikeyan Pandian, in the past, has done a lot of good work not only ...