India, April 9 -- Former Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday issued a staunch defence of his close aide VK Pandian over allegations that he had a role in the party changing its stance on the Waqf law in the Rajya Sabha, insisting that the former bureaucrat was not involved in any party activities after exiting the BJD 10 months ago.

Patnaik said the allegations against Pandian were "baseless and exaggerated" and that Pandian continued to be a figure of "integrity and dedication".

"I want to clarify again that he doesn't belong to the party. I also want to state quite clearly that Kartikeyan Pandian, in the past, has done a lot of good work not only for the state but for the party. So, he...