JSP chief Pawan Kalyan is the Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister

Amaravati: Jana Sena Party (JSP) founder and Pithapuram MLA Pawan Kalyan will be the deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. He will be the deputy for chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu who was sworn in at a ceremony in Kesarapalli IT Park in Amaravati, in the presence of prime minister Narendra Modi.

On Wednesday, Pawan Kalyan took oath as a minister along with other ministers without an official announcement on his portfolio. However, on X, his brother Chiranjeevi and Union home minister Amit Shah congratulated Pawan Kalyan on being the deputy CM, confirming Pawan’s post in AP Cabinet.

TDP, JSP and BJP, which fought together as NDA in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, registered a landslide victory, winning 164 out of the total 175 seats. TDP won 135 seats, JSP won 21, and BJP won 8.

Pawan Kalyan won in Pithapuram with a whopping majority of 70,279 votes over YSRCP candidate Vanga Geetha. His win has earned him the titles ‘Darling of Masses' and ‘Kingmaker of Andhra Pradesh’.

In a recent NDA meeting at the national capital, PM Modi described Kalyan as ‘Aandhi (storm)’.

The rise and rise of Pawan Kalyan

‘Power Star’ Pawan Kalyan began his political journey with his older brother Chiranjeevi who founded the Praja Rajyam Party in 2008. However, he did not remain active politically after his brother merged Praja Rajyam Party into Congress. Later Pawan Kalyan himself founded the Jana Sena Party in 2014.

Though he did not contest the 2014 elections, Kalyan extended outside support to the NDA alliance of the TDP and BJP, providing some tailwind to their victory.

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He contested the 2019 elections but faced a debacle, losing all seats except one, the Razole Assembly seat. In the 2024 polls, the 55-year-old actor-politician played a key role in stitching together the NDA alliance of TDP, BJP and JSP, and emerged triumphant with a landslide victory.