Actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan has been made a deputy chief minister in Chandrababu Naidu's government in Andhra Pradesh. Mr Kalyan, who was elected the Jana Sena Party's floor leader in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly earlier this week, returned home to a warm welcome on Wednesday. His wife Anna Lezhneva, a former model-actress from Russia, marked the occasion with a traditional Hindu ritual. She performed aarti and applied a tika on his forehead. The moment, captured on camera, went viral across social media platforms.
A user wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Wow,welcomed With traditional culture of Bharat. Great.”
Another wished her the best. “Best wishes to Mrs Kalyan. Great adaptation to Indian culture, Ma'am.”
“Very happy to see the traditions followed esp by Mrs. Pavan,” a read a comment.
Anna Lezhneva first met Pawan Kalyan during the filming of the movie Teen Maar in 2011. They got married two years later, in September 2013. She is Pawan Kalyan's third wife and shares a son, Mark Shankar Pawanovich, with him. She also has a daughter from a previous marriage.
Over the years, Ms Lezhneva's relationship with Mr Kalyan has faced scrutiny and challenges, largely due to the Telugu star's complex marital history. He was previously married to Nandini in 1997, which ended in divorce in 2008. He then got married to actress Renu Desai in 2009, with whom he shares two children, before their separation in 2012.
Pawan Kalyan, the leader of JSP, was sworn in as a minister in the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah and JP Nadda, and other dignitaries.
The BJP-TDP-Jana Sena alliance swept the Andhra Pradesh elections. They won 164 out of the total 175 Assembly seats and 21 of Andhra's 25 Lok Sabha seats.
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