Poll Impact: Pawan Kalyan to wear editor’s hat, follow time-tested formula

Coming out of his self-imposed hibernation following the total rout in the recent elections in Andhra Pradesh, actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan surprised his fans by announcing that he would take to journalism and launch a party magazine.

The ‘Powerstar’ of Telugu cinema, whose tryst with electoral politics ended on a disastrous note in the April 11 polls, said that the proposed fortnightly would highlight people’s issues and espouse their cause.

According to sources close to the actor, the yet-to-be titled magazine is likely to be launched in September this year and will carry a signed editorial from the Jana Sena Party president himself. In tone and content, the party mouthpiece will be hard-hitting and aggressive. “In all probability, the magazine will be on the lines of Shiv Sena’s Saamna,” sources said.

“I am not running away from politics. I will remain in the midst of people. I will become a journalist to work for people’s cause,” the 47-year-old mercurial star told his close confidants.

While he lost both the Assembly seats he contested, his party managed to win just one seat in the 175-member AP Assembly and drew a blank in the Lok Sabha.

Time-tested formula

By opting to wear the editor’s hat to reach out to people, Pawan Kalyan is actually following a time-tested formula in AP politics. Traditionally, media and politics have been inexorably linked as the combined Andhra Pradesh had witnessed the power of the media in ‘making or marring’ the prospects of political parties. In fact, a popular saying in political circles is that if ‘Eenadu’ group, which has been supportive of the Telugu Desam Desam Party for decades, had its way, the TDP would remain in power forever.

Both the print and electronic media have served as powerful tools to propagate the ideology of various political parties and influence public opinion.

Two recent examples bear testimony to this trend. The renewed agitation for separate Telangana state, launched by K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in 2001, found traction among the people and picked up momentum after the launch of the Telugu daily ‘Namaste Telangana’ in June 2011.

The daily and the television channel ‘T-News’ are owned by close relatives of KCR. The media outlets played a significant role in strengthening the statehood cause and building a sustained narrative around the demand for a separate state. Subsequently, in December 2016, an English daily “Telangana Today” was launched from the group to reach out to the urban readers.

Also read: Why Pawan Kalyan bombed at ballot box office

Similarly, ‘Sakshi’ group of publications and a news channel of the same name, owned by the family members of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, served as an effective tool for the YSR Congress Party to reach out to people and build a powerful narrative around the party’s policies and programmes. With a circulation of over 10 lakh (as per ABC figures released in December 2017), ‘Sakshi’, launched in March 2008, is the second largest daily in the two Telugu states of AP and Telangana, after ‘Eenadu’. Though there is a massive controversy surrounding its funding, the Telugu daily, along with the TV channel, has been quite unabashed in pursuing ‘campaign mode journalism’ with the twin objective of ‘exposing’ the omissions and commissions of the previous TDP government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu and promoting Jagan and his party.

Proxy support

At different points in the history of AP, the media organisations have played a pivotal role in the growth of regional parties, be it TDP, TRS or YSRCP. Though TDP, launched by the matinee idol of Telugu cinema N T Rama Rao in 1982 and is now headed by his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu, has no media outlet of its own, it has solid backing from “Eenadu’ Group and ‘Andhra Jyothy’ and other Telugu news channels promoted by businessmen.

The role played by ‘Eenadu’ daily, which now has a combined circulation of over 17 lakh, in popularising the TDP since the party’s inception is now part of the state’s political folklore. Though there have been occasions when the newspaper was critical of certain policies of the previous TDP governments, it remained steadfast in supporting the regional party and maintaining its staunch ‘anti-Congress’ stance. ‘Andhra Jyothy’, with a circulation of 7.5 lakh, is another media group, comprising a daily and a news channel, which has stood by Naidu’s TDP.

These two media groups have often been the targets of attack by the Congress. In fact, the former Congress Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy used to derisively refer to them as “those two newspapers” and his party leaders often dub the pro-TDP media outlets as “yellow papers”, referring to the TDP’s colour.

The national parties—BJP and Congress—have no media outlets of their own nor do they find support from any of the existing bunch of publications or channels.

Though ‘Sakshi’ was originally launched to serve as a platform to promote Congress, it turned against the grand old party, after the death of YSR in a helicopter crash in September 2009, and went whole hog in support of Jagan in his fight against the Congress high command.

Ironically, the mouthpieces of the two left parties—CPI and CPI (M)—remain largely confined to their cadre and have been unable to penetrate the market. Lack of mainstream content has been a major stumbling block to their growth, though ‘Visaalandhra’ (CPI) and ‘Prajasakti (CPI-M) have been around for many decades.

Chiranjeevi’s regret

The megastar of Telugu cinema, Chiranjeevi, whose foray into politics bombed at the ballot box office, is said to have lamented to his close aides that lack of his own media house could be one of the reasons for his failure to make a mark in politics.

Chiranjeevi, who is the elder brother of Pawan Kalyan, floated “Praja Rajyam” party in the run-up to the 2009 elections but it failed to make much impact at the hustings. He had subsequently merged his party with the Congress and became a Rajya Sabha member. He is now keeping himself away from active politics.

Challenges before Pawan

Pawan may not be off the mark if he thinks that a party mouthpiece will help him win the confidence of people but he has a galore of challenges to tackle first.

Despite enjoying massive following among the youth, particularly belonging to the numerically strong and influential Kapu community, he failed to convert his star appeal into votes due to lack of a cohesive political strategy, organizational structure and credible agenda.

Known for his impulsive ways and outspoken views, Pawan is not a politician in the conventional sense. His five-year-old party still does not have a proper organisational structure nor is he a 24/7 politician. His brand of politics is marked by a burst of activity followed by a prolonged lull.