New Delhi: There was a roar in the Andhra Pradesh assembly as the Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena Party chief walked in today after winning his first election. The actor-turned-politician fought the elections with an alliance with Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and emerged as a key player winning all 21 assembly seats that the party contested. The Jana Sena also had a 100 per cent success rate in the Lok Sabha polls, winning both the seats that they fielded candidates on.
In the elections held last month, the TDP-Jana Sena-BJP alliance bagged 164 seats in the 175-member Assembly. YSR Congress Party, which had 151 members in the previous Assembly, was reduced to just 11 seats.
The alliance also won 21 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats.
Pawan Kalyan, who is called 'Power Star' by his fans, was instrumental in getting Jana Sena, TDP and the BJP together ahead of the elections. The actor had last month said he had to make sacrifices to make the alliance happen.
"This (the alliance) is more about strategic understanding. The alliance was needed as liberty is at stake in Andhra Pradesh," the 52-year-old NDTV.
The move proved fruitful, not just in the state, but also at the centre as the alliance contributed 21 seats to the NDA's tally of 293.
Pawan Kalyan, the younger brother of veteran actor Chiranjeevi, was endorsed by Chiranjeevi himself as a 'new-age politician' during campaigning. Chiranjeevi mentioned that Pawan Kalyan had acted in films due to compulsion but willingly ventured into politics.
Although Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena party has not been highly active politically, the actor enjoys immense popularity, particularly among the youth in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Having made his electoral debut in 2019, Pawan Kalyan took his time to establish himself in state politics, despite criticism for his perceived slow pace and being labelled a "part-time" politician. He appealed to his supporters to grant him five years to prove himself.
At 52 years old, Pawan Kalyan agreed to reduce the number of seats contested by his party to facilitate the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance, aiming to consolidate anti-YSRCP votes and prevent vote division.