AMARAVATI — A regional Deputy Chief Minister publicly defended the spiritual value of his 15-year political grind on Tuesday, following a neighboring state's election where a rival actor launched a party in 2024 and became Chief Minister in 2026 by winning 108 seats on his first attempt.

Addressing supporters who had begun questioning the timeline of their own victory, the official clarified that his specific trajectory—founding a party in 2014, securing a single parliamentary seat in 2019 while losing both his own assembly races, and eventually winning 21 seats as a junior alliance partner in 2024—was actually the preferred method of democratic engagement.

"Instant gratification is dangerous for a celebrity politician," said a party spokesperson, expanding on the Deputy CM's public admission of feeling a little jealous of the neighboring victory. "It builds essential character to struggle for a decade before being allowed to share power. Winning an outright majority on your first try completely deprives a leader of the necessary trauma of coalition bargaining."

"We must be realistic about our unique situation and the virtues of patience," the Deputy CM noted, speaking from a podium that aides had carefully angled to obscure the view of celebratory cardboard cutouts erected just across the state border.