In the eye of the storm for using a pepper spray in the Lok Sabha to stall tabling of the Telangana Bill on Thursday, expelled Congress MP L Rajagopal claimed he carried pepper spray for self-protection as he faces ?great threat? from pro-Telangana protesters.
?Pepper spray is a defensive thing which women are using nowadays when they come under attack. Here, I was under attack. I am a person who never has any security. So I felt that like women are protecting themselves, let me also have something,? said L Rajagopal.
Here are four facts on Congress MP L Rajagopal:
* The two-time MP from Vijayawada is a rich industrialist. He heads the Rs 15,000-crore Lanco Group of Companies which runs power projects, real estate ventures, sponge iron companies and civil works.
* A mechanical engineer, Rajagopal took over Lanco in 1986. In 2009, he declared personal assets worth Rs 225 crore in his election affidavit.
* The Lanco Hills in Hyderabad is said to be Rajagopal?s dream project. With an investment of over $ 1.5 billion, this real estate project boasts of luxurious apartments and villas, office spaces, landscaped avenues, hotels, malls and shopping complexes.
* Rajagopal, with his extensive business interests in Hyderabad, is always the target of Telangana leaders, he is also a friend of TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao.