Pawan Kalyan: The ‘Power Star’ who shone bright in Andhra polls

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “Yeh Pawan nahi hai, aandhi hai (He is not just a wind, but a storm),” while introducing Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan at the meeting of the National Democratic Alliance partners in New Delhi on Friday, it provoked a thunderous applause.

The popular Tollywood hero, fondly called by millions of his fans as Power Star, received the appreciation with a humble smile and salute to the Prime Minister.

In fact, it was not the first time that somebody called him a “toofan (strom)” – it is a moniker regularly used in his films. Popular lyricist Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry called him a “human tsunami” in his song in Pawan Kalyan-starrer “Jalsa” way back in 2008.

His Jana Sena Party had achieved a 100% strike rate in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh – winning all 21 assembly seats and both the Lok Sabha seats it contested as part of an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party and Bharatiya Janata Party. It was a feat no other regional party accomplished in the history of Andhra Pradesh.

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Not long ago, Jana Sena Party was written off as a non-serious political party, and Pawan Kalyan, a failed politician. His party had won just one assembly seat in the 2019 assembly elections and Pawan Kalyan himself lost in both the seats he contested – Bhimavaram in West Godavari district and Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam district.

Even the lone Jana Sena Party MLA – Rapaka Varaprasad representing Razole assembly constituency in East Godavari district -- later defected to the YSR Congress Party led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

His own community Kapus, who along with its allied sub-castes, constitute nearly 25% of the state’s population, forming a powerful vote bank. They were sceptical about his ability to come to power. When he forged an alliance with the TDP, a Kamma-dominated party, it led to disgruntlement among the Kapus, who are traditional rivals of Kammas in rural Andhra Pradesh.

YSRCP leaders called Pawan Kalyan a “package star,” alleging that he had mortgaged the interests of Kapus with TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu by accepting a financial package from the latter. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his followers often raised the issue of his multiple marriages, hitting him below the belt.

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Yet, the matinee idol withstood the attacks and steered his party and the alliance to a stupendous victory in Andhra Pradesh polls. “For the first time in the history of Andhra Pradesh, two traditional rival caste groups -- Kammas and Kapus -- have come together, to pull down the Reddy-dominated YSRCP from power. And the credit goes only to Pawan Kalyan, who took the initiative in forging the alliance between the Jana Sena and the TDP, besides roping the BJP into the team,” said Kollu Anka Babu, veteran journalist and political analyst from Vijayawada.

Decade-long journey

Pawan Kalyan floated the Jana Sena Party in March 2014, three years after his elder brother and megastar Chiranjeevi merged his fledgling political party – Praja Rajyam – with the Congress.

The Kapu community, which was looking an opportunity to grab power in Andhra Pradesh by riding on the popularity of Chiranjeevi, it was a big disappointment and the megastar quietly retired from politics after the party lost its steam both at the Centre and the state.

Pawan Kalyan, too, did not generate much euphoria among the community. He chose not to contest the 2014 elections, as he had just floated the party and it had no organisational structure or network, except his fan following. He extended support to the TDP-BJP alliance and helped it come to power in the state.

In the next five years, Pawan Kalyan did not make any attempt to build his party as a strong force to reckon with, while the YSRCP emerged as a powerful political force and occupied whatever little space the Jana Sena Party had in the state till then.

Just before the 2019 elections, Pawan Kalyan woke up from the slumber, and weeks before the assembly elections, started attacking the TDP led by N Chandrababu Naidu. He criticised the Narendra Modi government for betraying the people on issues like granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

He joined hands with the Communist parties and Bahujan Samaj Party to fight the 2019 elections, in which Jagan Mohan Reddy emerged victorious with a thumping majority of 151 out of 175 assembly seats. Jana Sena ended up with just around 5% vote share and one MLA, who eventually crossed over to the YSRCP.

Soon after the elections, Pawan Kalyan was back into his shell, coming out occasionally to take part in film shootings. He did not give up the politics completely; he dumped the Left parties and BSP and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had become insignificant in state politics.

Even as the TDP was bouncing back to regain its lost ground in the past five years and emerging as a major threat to the YSRCP, Jana Sena Party remained subdued with no major programmes to reach out to the people.

“Jana Sena Party continued to be the rallying point for the Kapu community, which was desperate for a legitimate share in political power. In 2019, the Kapus voted mostly for YSRCP, but they were frustrated with the Jagan government. For them, Pawan Kalyan was the only option to prove their strength in 2024 elections. They desperately tried to project him as the prospective chief minister,” political analyst Mallu Rajesh said.

As the elections were fast approaching, Pawan Kalyan realised that the TDP has emerged as the front runner for power. So he entered into an alliance with the TDP, ostensibly to sustain his party. On the other hand, Chandrababu Naidu, too, desperately needed the support of Kapus and joined hands with Pawan Kalyan.

Pawan Kalyan was aware that his alliance with the TDP and accepting only 21 assembly and two Lok Sabha seats as part of the seat-sharing agreement would disappoint the Kapus. “I know my limitations. Had my party won substantial number of seats in 2019, I would have dared go alone in the elections. But we drew a blank then. And I don’t want to take risk contesting alone in 2024,” he told party leaders before the elections.

He made it clear to them that he had joined hands with the TDP and BJP with the sole intention of preventing the split of anti-incumbency votes and pulling down the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government. He also admitted that he had no organized political experience like Naidu. “We are building the party brick by brick. We need people who are ready to fight,” he said.

It is this perseverance and sagacity that helped Pawan Kalyan to put up a tremendous show in the elections and brought him nationwide recognition. His Jana Sena Party is most likely to get a representation in the Narendra Modi cabinet at the Centre, while Pawan is likely to become the deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.

“That is the difference between Pawan Kalyan and Chiranjeevi. While the latter had shown no patience in fighting and dropped the gun midway, his younger brother believed in gradual growth in politics,” Rajesh observed.