pawan-kalyan-the-likely-x-factor-in-andhra-polls

For the uninitiated, actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan may come across as a bundle of paradoxes; he adores Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara and, in the same breath, worships cows at his Gaushala near Vijayawada; on one hand, he is awe-struck by the global history of left-wing revolutions, on the other sails with the BJP with equal ease.

 

His maverick ways notwithstanding, this 52-year-old Telugu star, with a massive fan following among the youth, may well turn out to be the X factor in the coming elections in Andhra Pradesh, a state where tinsel glamour and politics are inexorably linked to each other.

 

AP will have simultaneous elections to the 175-member assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in April-May.

 

Traditionally, it has been a straight contest between the two key players—the YSR Congress Party headed by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

 

However, the upcoming election is set to witness a re-alignment of political forces with Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the TDP forging an alliance to defeat the ruling YSRCP. In a state known for fierce caste loyalties and a vociferous fan base for film stars, the coming together of the two parties, bound by a common enemy, is widely seen as a winning combination.

 

Common Manifesto

 

Pawan Kalyan, who entered politics way back in 2014 but remained inactive for the most part, belongs to the Kapu community, a numerically strong and influential social group constituting nearly 20% of the state’s population. Known for their strong caste loyalty,  the Kapu community is a decisive factor in at least 38 assembly constituencies. In the past, whichever party won majority seats in the Kapu-dominated coastal region had captured power in the combined Andhra Pradesh.

 

“The talks are on with the Jana Sena Party leadership for seat adjustments. We will also come up with a common election manifesto and a joint campaign theme,” said the TDP spokesperson N Vijay Kumar.

 

However, there is a catch here.

 

The BJP, which is already in alliance with the JSP, is not particularly enthused about sailing with the TDP. “The central leadership of the saffron party has a friendly and patronizing disposition towards the chief minister and his party. This is because Jagan has been bending backwards to keep them in good humour,” said political analyst and author K Ramesh Babu.

 

Electoral flop

 

Since his acting debut in 1996, ‘Power Star’, as the actor is popularly known, may have given several hits that set the box office on fire but his party bombed at the ballot box in the 2019 polls. His party managed to win just one assembly seat. The lack of organisational structure and absence of concrete policies and programmes were cited as the reasons for his electoral debacle.

 

However, he has learnt his lessons the hard way since then. Allying with a formidable and seasoned politician like Chandrababu Naidu could be the game changer this time. It is widely believed that the actor’s popularity among the youth coupled with the TDP’s traditional support base could tilt the scale in favour of the alliance.

 

Pawan Kalyan (52), the younger brother of Telugu megastar and former Union minister K Chiranjeevi, had launched Jana Sena in the run-up to the 2014 general elections but did not contest the elections. Instead, he supported the TDP-BJP combine and campaigned for its candidates. He played a key role in the TDP coming to power in 2014.