How Pawan Kalyan backed the winning horse in Andhra

Popularly known as ‘Power Star’ for his action roles in films, Kalyan launched the JSP in 2014 but stayed away from the elections that year. Few gave him a chance then, with sceptics drawing parallels to his elder brother K Chiranjeevi’s failed experiment with the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), which eventually folded up.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the JSP fared poorly with Kalyan losing from both Bhimavaram and Gajuwaka Assembly constituencies. The only seat his party won that election was Palacole, but the candidate defected to the YSRCP soon after. The loss not only dented Pawan’s image as a politician but also as an actor. Undeterred, Pawan aggressively took on the ruling YSRCP and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on various issues.

In the second half of 2022, Kalyan launched ‘Jana Vani’, as part of which he held several small public meetings aimed at listening to people’s complaints. On October 19, the state government cracked down on one such meeting at Visakhapatnam and arrested JSP cadres. Pawan Kalyan himself was confined to a hotel.

The incident brought TDP chief Naidu and Pawan Kalyan back together at a time when it appeared that the then potential allies were drifting apart. Naidu personally went to Vijayawada to meet Kalyan and declare his support to the JSP leader. Kalyan also maintained cordial relations with the BJP as part of a long-term strategy to take the fight to the YSRCP. “Our aim should be to unite so that we can defeat the YSRCP. If the TDP, JSP and BJP do not unite, the anti-incumbency vote will go to waste,’’ he had said.

Despite being cold-shouldered by the top BJP leadership, Kalyan kept meeting BJP leaders, including Amit Shah and J P Nadda, and kept working towards a TDP-JSP-BJP alliance until it was finally sealed in March this year, just in time for the elections.

It was Kalyan’s extensive tours of the state, besides Naidu’s successful public meetings and Nara Lokesh Naidu’s Yuva Galam padayatras, which galvanised the alliance leaders into action.

In the runup to the elections, Kalyan sharpened his attacks on the YSRCP government, from hitting out at Jagan’s three-capital plan to taking on the government on alleged corruption.

Every time he took on the YSRCP, Kalyan did so with a touch of flamboyance. On November 12, 2022, Kalyan appeared on the scenic Kapuluppada-Rushikonda beach in Visakhapatnam, ostensibly to protest against alleged construction violations in the region. The sight of the actor-politician, dressed in a pristine white kurta-pyjama, taking a casual stroll on the beach, in ankle-deep water, was one made for the cameras. JSP sources said the evening stroll on the beach was a message to the government that Kalyan cannot be stopped from doing what he wishes to.

On October 18, 2022, Kalyan took off his sandals and warned YSRCP leaders that they would get a thrashing if they made disparaging comments against him. “If you call me package star (a frequent barb used by YSRCP leaders to suggest that Kalyan was working for the BJP and TDP) one more time, I will beat you with this,’’ he had said at a public meeting in Mangalagiri, waving his sandals.

On November 5 that year, when Kalyan set out from his party office at Mangalagiri, Vijayawada, for Ippatam, a place where the local administration had demolished several houses, police stopped the convoy from proceeding. Kalyan, dressed in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, got off and started walking, forcing the police to give in. Instead of getting into his car, the actor clambered onto the roof and sped towards Ippatam.

With Kalyan now making his debut in the legislative Assembly, many expect to see some of that flamboyance in action. Though the TDP is set to get a majority on its own, Kalyan’s JSP is expected to play a key role in the government and its policies.