How ‘Power Star’ Pawan Kalyan helped NDA storm to power in Andhra

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is all set to come to power at the Centre and in Andhra Pradesh. N Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will be the chief minister of the southern state. He has also emerged as a kingmaker at the Centre as his party’s support is crucial for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a government for a third consecutive term.

However, the victory in Andhra Pradesh might not have been possible for the bloc, if not for Pawan Kalyan of the JanaSena Party (JSP). He needs special mention for the NDA’s spectacular performance in Andhra and the near-wipeout of its rival YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in these polls.

Let’s take a closer look.

Andhra Pradesh election results

In the AP Assembly polls, the TDP won the majority of 135 of the 175 seats. Kalyan’s JSP won all 21 Assembly segments it contested this time. Their partner, the BJP, bagged eight seats.

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The outgoing CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP could clinch only 11 Assembly seats.

Naidu’s TDP won 16 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra, while the YSRCP was reduced to just four.

The BJP bagged three and Janasena Party the remaining two. As per the seat-sharing deal between the three NDA allies, the TDP had contested 17 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP six and JSP two.

Pawan Kalyan’s political foray

Known as ‘Power Star’ in the Telugu film industry, Pawan Kalyan has curated an image of the ‘angry young man’ in his movies.

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Belonging to a family of popular actors, Kalyan, who is the younger brother of superstar Chiranjeevi, made a foray into politics in 2008 with his brother’s party.

As per IANS, Kalyan launched his own party JSP in 2014. He made his electoral debut in 2019 when JSP fought the polls alone. However, the actor faced a humiliating defeat, losing both Assembly constituencies – Gajuwaka of Visakhapatnam and Bhimavaram of West Godavari – he contested. His JSP won the lone Assembly seat of Razole.

Kalyan’s party failed to open an account in the Lok Sabha polls, with YSRCP winning 22 seats and the TDP taking the other three.

At the time, JSP was in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Left parties.

In 2024, Pawan Kalyan flipped the script, turning his party’s electoral debacle last time into a 100 per cent success rate.

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His role in NDA’s victory

Kalyan has to be credited for stitching up an alliance between the TDP and the BJP.

It all started eight months back when TDP chief Naidu was jailed in the alleged skill development scam case by the YSRCP government. He was imprisoned for over 50 days before securing bail from the Supreme Court.

While Naidu was in Rajahmundry Central prison, Kalyan stood outside it after meeting the TDP chief and announced his intention to ally with the party.

As per PTI, this helped in boosting the morale of the TDP workers. Later, Kalyan, who was an NDA ally, convinced the BJP to join hands with the TDP for the 2024 polls.

After the BJP came on board, Kalyan decided to compromise on seat sharing by agreeing to contest only 21 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats.

His party won all the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats it contested in the state, with the actor-politician trouncing YSRCP’s Vanga Geetha from the Pithapuram Assembly constituency by a margin of 70,279 votes.

In 2022, Kalyan had said he would “not let anti-YSRCP vote get divided in Andhra Pradesh.” And he ensured that it did not happen this time.

As per an Indian Express report, it is speculated that Kalyan helped bring together the voters of both the Kapus and Kammas communities, which proved beneficial for the NDA in Andhra.

The two communities have been at loggerheads since the 1980s. While Kapus make up 18 per cent of Andhra Pradesh’s population, politically-strong Kammas account for just six per cent.

After the rivalry between the two castes, the Kapus traditionally stayed away from the TDP, with the YSR Congress Party partially gaining their votes in 2014 after Congress’ rout in the state, the report added.

“This time around, Kapus have rallied behind Pawan Kalyan and this has helped the TDP-BJP alliance,” TDP spokesperson Sushant Subudhi told Indian Express.

JSP’s gamble of not letting anti-YSRCP votes split paid off for the NDA. Let’s see how.

According to Hindustan Times (HT), the YSRCP bagged more than 1.3 crore votes of the estimated 3.3 crore votes in Andhra. While its vote share was 39.37 per cent, it only got 11 of the 175 Assembly seats.

On the other hand, Pawan Kalyan’s party got approximately 28.8 lakh votes but still won 21 seats. Similarly, the BJP received about 9.5 lakh votes, winning eight of the 10 seats it contested.

Kalyan, who was taunted by YSRCP that called him a “call sheet politician” due to working in movies and having a political career together, has played a major role in ousting the same party from power.

A reward for JSP?

There are speculations that JSP could be rewarded for the victory in Andhra. Kalyan’s party is likely to get a berth in the Modi 3.0 Cabinet.

Notably, Kalyan was present at the meeting of NDA leaders held at Prime Minister’s residence in Delhi on Wednesday (5 June). He was also present in Varanasi, along with other leaders from the alliance, when Narendra Modi filed his Lok Sabha nomination.

With inputs from agencies