Almost 10 years ago, when Pawan Kalyan, the younger brother of ‘megastar’ and former union Minister K. Chiranjeevi, was in the prime of his film career, he took the plunge into politics by setting up the Jana Sena Party (JSP).
Today, the JSP is an emerging force in Andhra Pradesh, at least in the eyes of its alliance partner at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the local friend, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The actor-turned-politician belongs to the Kapu community, which makes up about 24% of the population in the State. Owing to his cine glamour and popularity, the JSP enjoys some mass support.
Now, the JSP is seen as a key player in the State against the backdrop of the TDP’s legal setbacks and the arrest of its supremo and former Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu. With more leaders in the TDP booked in multiple cases, the JSP is expected to play a larger role in filling the leadership vacuum in the State.
Mr. Kalyan was smitten by the “political bug” in 2008, when he set up the Common Man Protection Force with the objective of “serving society”. Later, he went on to lead the youth wing of Mr. Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), which won 18 seats in the 2009 Assembly election in united Andhra Pradesh.
After the PRP merged with the Congress in 2011, Mr. Kalyan went on to chart his own course. Three years later, on March 14, 2014, the JSP was launched. The party did not contest the election that year, having decided to focus on strengthening the organisation first.
The JSP had then extended support to the TDP-BJP combine, which won the election with a tally of 102 and four seats, respectively. The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) came second with 67 seats. Mr. Kalyan started gaining political limelight with an invitation for a meeting of the BJP-led NDA.
In the 2019 Assembly election, however, the JSP could win only one seat, though it secured some 6% vote share. That was when the JSP had a tie-up with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Left, both of which bit the dust. Mr. Kalyan was defeated in both the Gajuwaka and Bhimavaram constituencies.
The party’s expectation at that time was that the JSP will at least win over a significant chunk of the votes from the Kapu community. But it did not happen as the YSRCP swept the polls, cutting across the traditional vote banks.
Rough patch
It has since been a rough patch for the JSP as its lone MLA (R. Varaprasad) switched his loyalty to the YSRCP. A reasonably good performance in the local elections in 2021 came as a solace for the JSP.
In early 2020, the JSP forged an alliance with the BJP but their relationship has not been smooth. The Centre’s refusal to concede the Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh and its alleged indifference to other bifurcation-related demands of the State led to cracks in the alliance. From then, the two parties drifted apart as the BJP started working out its own strategy for the State.
The gap slowly became so wide that Mr. Kalyan had earlier this month declared his intention to contest the 2024 election with the TDP, which duly reciprocated his gesture, to achieve their common goal of defeating the well-entrenched YSRCP.
Nevertheless, it is still too early to predict the likely trajectory of the JSP as, just a day or two after announcing his tie-up with the TDP, Mr. Kalyan said in a party meeting that he was with Narendra Modi and would continue to be part of the NDA, sending conflicting signals about his plans.
The 2024 elections are going to be a do-or-die battle for the JSP, having spent years on the fringes of State politics. But the polls are also an opportunity for Mr. Kalyan to establish himself as an influential political figure in the State.
The JSP-TDP alliance is yet to take off with full force due to some teething troubles. Whether the BJP will come along remains to be seen, given its ambition to emerge as an alternative to the regional parties. The JSP leadership, however, is understood to be cautious in playing its cards at this opportune moment.
