'Pepper spary' MP Lagadapati Rajagopal known for his never-say-die spirit

He's always been known for his never-say-die spirit. When Lagadapati Rajagopal was just 21, he barged into a group of around 50 people and submitted a tender he had been excluded from. Nearly 30 years later, the Congress MP still refuses to give up on something he believes in. A supporter of a united Andhra Pradesh and fierce opponent of the creation of a separate Telangana state, he made headlines on Thursday for using pepper spray in Parliament during the introduction of the Telangana Bill.

Rajagopal has always been against the creation of Telangana. His supporters say that as far back as 2004 he was against the Congress party's move to align with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party that has been spearheading the demand for a separate state. Those who have seen him over the years point out that if he gets emotionally connected to anything and feels strongly that his stand is correct then he will not compromise on his stand and "will go to any extent" to defend it.

The hurly-burly of politics is a long way from the time Rajagopal joined the family construction business in 1988 and in the early 1990s diversified from construction to manufacturing by setting up a pig iron plant. He took inspiration from his uncle, Lagadapati Amarappa Naidu, and named this new business as LANCO Ferro. LANCO is an acronym for Lagadapati Amarappa Naidu. In 1991, Rajagopal inducted his younger brother, L. Madhusudhan Rao, to manage the business at LANCO Ferro, which was renamed LANCO Industries in 1993. Rao took over the leadership of the company and the Lanco group after Rajagopal quit to join politics in February 2003.