Hyderabad: Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s meeting In May, along with KA Paul, a former world-travelling evangelist became a politician with some influence in the Christian communities of the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, prompting many in southern political circles to be curious. Then, in July, Paul also met Purushottam Rupala, central minister For fisheries and animal husbandry.
Rupala, however, later Told That his visit was just a courtesy call raised some eyebrows.
Paul’s team told ThePrint that earlier this week, Shah even offered government protection to the Telugu politician, as he claimed his life was in danger. Paul, a Christian preacher, claimed in a conversation with ThePrint that he had several phone conversations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as in a 2016 photo of Paul. Facebook He is seen shaking hands with Modi on the page.
So, who is KA Paul and why is BJP interested in him?
Kilari Anand Paul from Andhra Pradesh is a global campaigner who claims to have visited several war-torn countries and advised world leaders. The 58-year-old owns a Boeing 747 plane and has gone on ‘peace tours’ to more than a hundred countries, he told ThePrint.
According to Paul’s team, he heads two US-based independent organizations – the Global Peace Initiative and Gospel to Unreached Millions, the latter focusing on the evangelization of the Christian gospel.
in one Interview For a Telugu channel in May, Paul claimed to have met US President Joe Biden in February to discuss the Russo-Ukraine war conflict. In the interview, he also said that he has assets worth $100 trillion and has funded political parties on several occasions, including the movement for a separate Telangana state by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
He founded Praja Shanti Party in 2008 and contested the 2019 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, along with several PSP candidates, but did not manage to win a single seat.
BJP leader and former Telangana Legislative Council member Ramachandra Rao told ThePrint, “Amit Shah must have given Paul an audience as he would have portrayed himself as a strong leader of a certain community.” “Shah is personally monitoring the entire operation in Telangana where the BJP is aggressively looking to position itself. Politically, in Telangana and Andhra, he is very insignificant.”
Speaking to ThePrint, Paul said he told Shah that Praja Shanti Party candidates would contest the upcoming assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Telangana.
“Why only BJP? Praja Shanti Party also wants to emerge as a strong opposition to KCR (Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao). I also told them how serious I am about contesting elections not only in Telangana but also in other Lok Sabha seats including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, North-East and Kerala. Both Shah and Rupala Yes Agreed that I should contest, ”said Paul.
“I even told Amit Shah that I want to be the prime minister,” Paul said.
According to senior political analyst Telakapalli Ravi, Paul is being used as a “pawn” by the BJP. “Paul has a lot of money, money. And the BJP always tries to encourage marginalized elements – irrespective of the community. This is his strategy. They seem to be using him as a pawn and these meetings are just diversion techniques to confuse people. Politically, I don’t think it makes any sense,” Ravi told ThePrint.
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Believer?
Talking to ThePrint, Paul said that his relationship with Shah and Rupala dates back to the time when they were in Gujarat. He helped the Gujarat state with “money” during the 2001 earthquake and since then, he has had good relations with Shah and some other BJP leaders. Paul said his recent meeting with Shah also discussed the “arrangement of funds”.
Born in Andhra’s Chittivalasa village, Paul said that his journey was ‘Bogulanundi Boing Varku‘ – loosely translated, it means ‘from coal to boeing’, alluding to the financially difficult early years. He shot to fame, he said, in the late 1980s.
His popularity as a campaigner, especially two decades ago, was so great that there were Similarities There is being drawn between him and the great American evangelical preacher Billy Graham.
In addition to reportedly being on Donald Trump’s trust adviser groupBefore becoming president, Paul for years, has been Photo with Trump’s wife Melania Trump and daughter Ivanka Trump meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his predecessor Manmohan Singh, and former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and 39th US President Jimmy Carter, during a campaign meeting in 2016. Had a meeting.
The list of Paul’s claims is long. According to him, he convinced Trump not to take any harsh decisions on Indian immigrant students, requested PM Modi not to conduct surgical strikes, and asked former Pakistan PM Imran Khan about releasing the Indian Air Force Wing Commander. I talked. Abhinandan Current Who was in the custody of the Pakistani Army for some time after the clash between the armies of the countries in 2019. He also claimed that he has worked towards peace in the past in war-torn areas such as Iraq and Liberia.
Paul’s most recent claim, A. In Video Released on social media, is that he also requested Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the attack on Ukraine. In the emotional video, he said that he had spoken to Putin on the phone about this.
Rupala had nominated ThePrint for the 2021 peace prize in a letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. The evangelist claims that he has been nominated for this honor seven times.
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‘Part of Mission South’
Back in the Telugu states, Paul has always been brutally trolled on social media, with hundreds of videos online mocking his many claims.
Though his political party is considered insignificant by political experts, he says that whatever little support his party receives will largely come from the Christian community. Paul is associated with several Christian organizations in the Telugu states and is also in contact with many pastors.
“Amit Shah is meeting people from different walks of life to take feedback on Telangana as BJP is very serious about the next elections in the state. Paul is a prominent figure representing the Christian community, so perhaps not politically, but community-wise he is a prominent figure. This is all part of the strategy and if the BJP wants to come to power, we have to take advice from all kinds of people,” a BJP leader told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
After a series of victories against the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the BJP is focusing on Telangana, beginning with Dubbaka by-election in 2020, The BJP also held its National Executive Committee meeting in Hyderabad last month to show how serious the party is about itself. ‘Mission South’ Special focus on Telangana
“KTR (KT Rama Rao, CM KCR’s son and IT minister) was once asked who was his party’s main opposition in the state and mocked KA Paul in an attempt to bring down the BJP and other parties. Hence, the BJP has met the main opposition of KTR,” another BJP leader joked, adding that Shah is meeting all possible people in the state, whose common enemy is KCR.
“Sometimes it’s all about creating noise,” he said.
(Edited by Jinnia Ray Chowdhury)
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