NDA’s Andhra lynchpin, Pawan Kalyan now Deputy CM: How JSP chief turned things around

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Friday appointed JanaSena Party (JSP) president K Pawan Kalyan, 55, as the Deputy CM with the portfolios of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development with additional portfolios of Rural Drinking Water Supply, Environment and Forests, and Science and Technology.

The 55-year-old actor-turned-politician who helped bring together the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Andhra won for the first time from the Pithapuram Assembly constituency in Kakinada district. Written off as a political leader a year ago, Kalyan, popularly known as the “Power Star”, turned things around, helping Naidu topple the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government.

In all his speeches, Kalyan talked about tackling rural poverty, social justice, arranging drinking water supply to homes, and rural development. “He got the ministry which will give him a chance to realise his dream of working for the poor and downtrodden. It is very close to his heart and he is excited to start work,’’ said Kalyan’s political secretary Hari Prasad.

Kalyan launched the JSP on March 14, 2014, as Andhra Pradesh awaited its bifurcation and the creation of the new Telangana state. But in the years since then, it was mostly a story of downs rather than ups. In 2014, he lent support to the TDP-BJP NDA alliance but did not contest. In 2019, his party contested and won only one seat while Kalyan himself lost from Bhimawavarm and Gajuwaka.

But not dejected, the actor-politician relaunched himself, taking on the YSRCP and Jagan Mohan Reddy. As the TDP was pushed to the defensive in the face of a powerful YSRCP and the state machinery, Pawan Kalyan started off with small corner meetings and public rallies that strengthened the party and helped