Earlier this week, the Jana Sena Party and the BJP formalized their alliance. Pawan Kalyan had gone into the 2019 polls against the YCP, the TDP and the BJP. However, putting behind his disappointment with the saffron party over the Special Category Status issue, the actor-politician has allied with it in a big way.

BJP leaders in the know have said that BL Santosh, the National General Secretary of BJP, is the one who was instrumental in making the alliance possible. "The man behind BJP and Jana Sena alliance is none other than BL Santosh ji. I am very sure Pawan Kalyan Sir, will be the CM of Andhra in 2024," says Pratap Simha, a BJP MP from Karnataka.

It's speculated that Santosh's grip on the issues that concern Pawan Kalyan helped him strike the right chord with him. He also assured that BJP will continue to respect Jana Sena's separate identity within the framework of anti-casteist, anti-dynasty and anti-corruption politics. Above all, Pawan was enticed by the promise that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah will endorse him as the CM candidate of the alliance in 2024.