Anti-Telangana MP L Rajagopal known for emotional outbursts

Lagadapati Rajagopal, the Parliamentarian from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh who whipped out a canister and pepper sprayed those around him on the floor of the Lok Sabha on Thursday, is a contractor-turned-law maker who "has no control over his emotions", according to reports.

Rajagopal, a mechanical engineer who was formerly the head of Lanco Infratech before he handed over reins of the company to his siblings, has had trouble with his temper even during his college days, reports The Times of India.

L Rajagopal. PTI

At Vijayawada's Siddharth Engineering College, he was reportedly suspended for a year.

"He has no control over his emotions," confides a friend. "He has been beaten up by pro-Telangana agitators so many times."

According to the report, Rajagopal, who was first married to former Union minister P Upendra's daughter before he entered the Congress, remarried a few years ago and has a five-year-old son from his second wife.

According to The Indian Express, Rajagopal also hit another Parliamentarian in the Lok Sabha premises on Thursday.

When marshals were taking Rajagopal out of Lok Sabha after the pepper spray incident, he saw Congress MP Madhu Yaskhi talking to security personnel in the lobby. The MP from Telangana was staffers to check if there were more spray cans somewhere in the House.

"As Rajagopal passed by Yaskhi, he hit him twice on the head before marshals pulled him away. Yaskhi later complained to Speaker Meira Kumar and was said to be keen to lodge a police complaint," the report said.

He is reportedly working on building a Seemandhra party along with Congress chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is also expected to resign.

The 53-year-old MP had in fact even introduced a private member's bill in 2009 to deal with disruptions by lawmakers and to penalise them.

In December that same year, Rajagopal became one of the most prominent anti-Telangana faces when he sat on a protest hunger strike for more than a week, holding the national flag.

As his health parameters dipped, he was forcibly hospitalised but managed a daring "escape" from hospital in the middle of the night.