Rise of Jana Sena Party scripted by ‘Power Star’ – from 2019 poll ashes to 2024 glory

“Kalyan knew that the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) was going to be a force to reckon with in truncated Andhra Pradesh and hence floated the JSP, and immediately announced support to the NDA,” a close aide of Kalyan told The Indian Express.

Though Kalyan or the JSP did not contest the 2014 polls, the party supported the N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP, which was then also a part of the BJP-led NDA. However, sources said, he did not then get enough “respect” from the TDP and fell out with the NDA over the demand for a Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra. The TDP too had walked out of the NDA in February 2018 over the same issue.

The JSP’s electoral debut came in 2019, when it contested the synchronised Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Left. However, the results were dismal for the JSP as it could win just one Assembly seat out of 137 that it fought from, even as the party could not win any of the 18 Lok Sabha seats it contested. Kalyan himself lost from both the Bhimavaram and Gajuwaka Assembly seats. To make matters worse, the lone JSP MLA Rapaka Vara Prasad defected to the YSRCP.

But insiders claim Kalyan had a 15-year plan when he floated the JSP. “He was clear what he wanted to do in politics. He wanted to show people that elections can be won without money power and hence he was not bothered about winning or losing,” a JSP leader said.

After the 2019 debacle, Kalyan kept speaking to leaders and cadre to keep their morale high. “He made it a point to interact more with the cadre as the JSP’s strength is its cadre. He always preferred to take inputs from cadre rather than his leaders. While he kept the party motivated, his ‘second-in-command’ Nadendla Manohar made sure the party kept growing,” another party leader said.

JSP sources claim that Kalyan knew Jagan was “not here to stay for a long period”. “One year into the YSRCP regime, Kalyan realised that Jagan was not doing any good for the state. He rejoined the NDA in a bid to prevent the anti-YSRCP vote from splitting,” a party leader said.

Months ahead of the 2024 polls, Kalyan went all out to build up his party’s campaign – from undertaking his Varahe Yatra to addressing the issues of fishermen and trying to take all sections of society into confidence. “He managed to transcend the caste lines and became a household name with his rigorous campaign. While he had the support of the Kapus (a community he belongs to), people from Dalit and OBC communities started to take him seriously as a leader,” a JSP district officer-bearer said.

With his campaign slogan, “Save the state from Jagan”, Kalyan’s efforts to consolidate anti-YSRCP votes began. While he had been in talks with the TDP for an alliance from the start of 2020, he later started making attempts to persuade the BJP leadership to form a tripartite NDA alliance in Andhra for the polls.

“No one can discount the fact that it was our leader’s efforts that brought the three parties together. When he first proposed the idea to the BJP, he was summoned to Delhi and was at the receiving end of flak from their leadership. But he stood his ground and kept up his efforts,” said one of Kalyan’s close aides, who claimed that the state BJP unit was against this alliance.

The JSP’s moment of reckoning came in September 2023 when Naidu was arrested in connection with an alleged AP Skill Development Corporation scam and was remanded in judicial custody for 53 days .

Kalyan, who was stopped mid-way while he was on his way to meet Naidu in his jail, announced the TDP-JSP tie-up while the TDP chief was in custody.

With the TDP on board, Kalyan attempted to do an uphill task – unite the Kamma (Naidu’s community) and Kapus, who had been at loggerheads since the 1970s. His decision did not go down well with his partymen, who protested and feared that the decision may lead to the party’s downfall.

Following hectic parleys and prolonged negotiations over firming up the NDA alliance, with Kalyan remaining at the centre of this process, the BJP gave its go-ahead in March this year, following which the NDA took shape in Andhra. “Kalyan had taken full responsibility of the alliance and had the NDA figures not been what they are, the partners were ready to make him the fall guy,” a party insider said.

To ensure the stitching of the NDA alliance for the polls, Kalyan also agreed to contest fewer seats than his earlier targets, which “disappointed” a section of the JSP leaders and cadre. A party leader from Rajahmundry said there was anger when Kalyan settled for contesting only 24 Assembly seats even when the BJP was not on board, which later got reduced to just 21.

“The party’s jhanda sabha (flag meeting) in Tadepalligudem however changed it all. Kalyan told the leaders to leave strategy-making to him for this election. He made a sincere appeal, asking them to trust him once for this time. This convinced them and the results are out there for all to see,” a JSP leader said.

The TDP-JSP-BJP alliance swept both the Assembly and the Lok Sabha polls, dealing a body blow to the YSRCP. Kalyan won from the Pithapuram Assembly seat by over 70,000 votes. On Wednesday, when Naidu was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the fourth time, Kalyan took the oath as the Deputy CM.