Film actor Pawan Kalyan is in politics for more than one decade. Though he launched his own outfit – Jana Sena – in 2014, his political debut was with his brother K Chiranjeevi, who started Praja Rajyam, just before the 2009 general elections.
Pawan Kalyan was the Yuva Rajyam (youth wing) chief of the Praja Rayam Party those days and had extensively campaigned targeting the Congress in the 2009 elections.
The party won just 18 Assembly seats, much lower than their expectations and had finally merged with the Congress.
Differed with his brother Chiranjeevi, the Power Star, as Pawan Kalyan is called by his film fans, started this Jana Sena.
He did not contest the 2014 general elections, but was lured by the BJP to support them and subsequently forced to campaign for the TDP.
After the elections, he differed with both the parties and aligned with the Communist parties and the BSP. He contested the 2019 elections unsuccessfully, losing in two seats where he contested, while his party won one seat in Godavari districts.
He went back to the BJP after his poor show in the 2019 elections and is now supporting the BJP in the Tirupati by-election.
Going by his track record, though his meetings witness huge turnout of masses, he is failing at the ballot boxes.
The BJP is hoping to show a better performance in the Tirupati by-election but the EC had spoiled their hopes by giving Jana Sena’s election symbol – Glass – to a registered party.
With “Glass” symbol present in the by-election, the BJP may not get the votes that they were expecting from Pawan Kalyan’s followers.
The “Glass” is likely to get more votes than the BJP in Tirupati this time, thus proving that the actor-turned-politician is not an asset but a liability.
