Pawan Kalyan expected to become Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
New Delhi/Hyderabad:
Actor and politician Pawan Kalyan was sworn in as a minister in Chandrabab’s Naidu cabinet today. Naidu, who emerged as a kingmaker after the BJP failed to secure a majority in the Lok Sabha elections, is back as Andhra Pradesh chief minister for a fourth time.
It is learnt that Pawan Kalyan, also known as ‘Power Star’, is likely to be made Deputy Chief Minister.
Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan played a key role in bringing together the BJP and Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to take on the Yanukovych Syrian Latvian National Congress faction led by Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The three-party coalition won a landslide victory in parliament, winning 164 seats, and 21 of the 25 seats in the lower house of parliament.
Pawan Kalyan had last month said sacrifices had to be made to make the alliance happen. “It is more a matter of ‘strategic understanding’. The alliance was necessary as the freedom of Andhra Pradesh was at stake,” he told NDTV.
Andhra Pradesh elections for its 175-seat Assembly and 25-seat Lok Sabha were held on May 13.
Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR National Congress party dominated both elections five years ago, winning 22 of the state’s 25 Lok Sabha seats and 151 of the state’s 175 Assembly seats.
Pawan Kalyan is the younger brother of veteran actor Chiranjeevi. During Pawan Kalyan’s election campaign, Chiranjeevi had supported him as a new generation politician and said that he was forced to act in films but had entered politics of his own accord.
Though Power Star Jana Sena is not politically active, the actor has a huge fan base, especially among the youth in the two Telugu states.
Pawan Kalyan, who made his electoral debut in 2019, has taken time to establish himself in state politics. Often criticised for his “slow pace” as a “part-time” politician, Kalyan had appealed to his supporters to give him a five-year term.
The 52-year-old agreed to bring down the number of seats to a realistic level so that the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance can materialise to avoid splitting of anti-YSRCP votes.
Poll experts say Pawan Kalyan showed maturity in the seat-allocation negotiations and played a key role in ensuring the alliance was moulded.
