By Friday evening, a day after the results to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections were out, social media platform TikTok was abuzz with short videos that showed hardcore fans of actor-politician Pawan Kalyan reaffirming their faith in his leadership.
Some wept, while others expressed surprise at the humiliating defeat he sufffered in both constituencies that he contested and other candidates from the Jana Sena party.
Pawan Kalyan, who chose not to contest the 2014 polls, joined hands with the Left parties and Mayawati’s BSP this time. All but one of the 138 candidates faced defeat as YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSRCP swept the polls by clinching 151 out of the 175 seats in the Assembly.
Jana Sena’s performance came as a shocker to his fans. The party pinned hopes on securing at least 30-40 seats in the worst case scenario and anticipated a king-maker role for the party in the event of a hung-like situation.
Pawan Kalyan was defeated in both Gajuwaka and Bhimavaram constituencies.
According to reports, Jana Sena’s candidates had adversely impacted the prospects of at least 30 Assembly and eight Lok Sabha candidates of Telugu Desam Party.
Pawan Kalyan had thrown his weight behind Telugu Desam Party in 2014 and campaigned for that party, while staying away from fielding candidates.
Despite a hectic campaign that saw heavy crowds cheering Pawan Kalyan could not win seats for his party, leaving his fans in huge disappointment.