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Pawan Kalyan joins Naidu cabinet as Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister

After the Jana Sena Party won every seat it contested in 2024, Pawan Kalyan joined Chandrababu Naidu's government and became Deputy Chief Minister.

10 Nov 2026, 07:411 min read

This summary was written by AI to complete the context; it is not based on a current source.

On 12 June 2024, actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan was sworn in as a minister in the new Andhra Pradesh government led by Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). He was named Deputy Chief Minister, the state's second-ranking office, shortly afterwards. The ceremony took place near Vijayawada.

The appointment followed the April–May 2024 state election, in which the TDP, Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fought together. The alliance won the vast majority of the 175 assembly seats, and the JSP won all 21 seats it contested. Pawan Kalyan himself won the Pithapuram constituency by a large margin.

His rise was widely seen as a turning point. He had founded the JSP in 2014 and had lost both seats he contested in 2019. He was given portfolios including rural development (Panchayat Raj), environment and forests. As a major film star with a huge fan following, his political profile and public life drew intense attention, which is why later developments in his personal life are closely followed.