KA Paul and Jana Shanthi Party: A serious contender?

The man claims he owns a 747 Boeing for his peace tours across 155 countries of the world, called President Donald Trump to stop action on Indian students and stopped the imminent Indo-Pak war by convincing Prime Minister Imran Khan that he is contesting elections in Andhra Pradesh.

He is evangelist Kilari Anand Paul, better known as Dr K A Paul, who heads the 'Gospel for Unreached Millions' (GUM) organisations based in USA and India.

Paul believes he will become the chief minister of the state and create a fund of Rs 5 lakh crore to develop the state in a year.

He had launched the "Jana Shanthi Party" on December 29 and announced on January 7 in Vijayawada that his party will get 35% of the votes.

"No party will get a majority in Andhra Pradesh this time. It will be like one chief minister from one alliance partner every other year. When I become a chief minister, I will see that there is one hospital and one school or college built in every Assembly segment at a cost of Rs 100 crore," Paul said.

Known for his fondness for meeting the rich and famous, the 55-year-old said that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is his disciple and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan is like his younger brother.

"I can defeat Naidu in Kuppam if agrees for a US presidential election-style debate. But he is not ready," Paul said at a press conference.

He also claimed he had told Pawan Kalyan to "go with me in the elections, that way there is a chance of winning."

Paul has so far not released a list of candidates of his party. He had said the same in 2009 and 2014, but never released lists then either.

But he claims his party will contest all 175 seats and that he will stay back in Andhra Pradesh no matter what the outcome of the elections is.

Paul said he has one mission after winning the elections: to hand over the investigation into Y S Vivekananda Reddy's death to the FBI.