Known for courting controversies on and off Twitter, Tajinder Bagga files nomination from Hari Nagar

New Delhi, January 21

From slapping former AAP leader Prashant Bhushan and disrupting Arundhati Roy's book event to selling tea outside Congress headquarters as a protest against Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks, Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, who is BJP candidate from Hari Nagar, has never failed to hog limelight, including for his numerous Twitter spats.

Within two hours of being named as the BJP's candidate for the Delhi Assembly polls on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, Twitter-savvy Bagga had a rap song -- "bagga bagga har jagah"-- ready for his campaign.

Tweeted at 3.29 am by Bagga, the song video had over 30,000 views by Tuesday night and talks about how he is ready to take on the opponents in the upcoming Assembly polls in the national capital.

"How is the josh? #Baggabagga har jagah," he captioned the rap song on Twitter.

Garlanded by his supporters, Bagga filed his nomination on Tuesday. In the affidavit filed by him, Bagga has declared movable assets worth Rs 18.90 lakh including a car and has nil immovable assets.

Bagga, who has over 6.4 lakh followers on Twitter, was made the BJP spokesperson in 2017. The BJP's rivals often accuse him of being a "Twitter troll".

He started his career with Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena (BSKS), which calls itself a "nationalist task force against traitors, anti-nationals and corrupts".

Bagga grabbed headlines in October 2011 when he slapped lawyer-activist and the then AAP leader Prashant Bhushan for his remarks on Kashmir. He had openly taken credit for the assault and called it "Operation Prashant Bhushan".

"He try to break my Nation, I try to break his head. Hisab chukta. Congrats to all. operation Prashant Bhushan successful (sic)," he had tweeted.

Reacting to Bagga being given ticket by the BJP, Prashat Bhushan tweeted: "From promoting lynch mobs & fake news purveyors on the social media & media to giving tickets to goons being prosecuted for terror, rape & other crimes, BJP has come a long way".

Bagga was quick to respond saying, "abusing Army to Demanding Referendum in Kashmir to Throwing from AAP (sic), Prashant Bhushan has come a long way".

However, slapping Bhushan wasn't the only "operation" Bagga undertook.

In 2011, he disrupted a launch event of author Arundhati Roy's book at the India Habitat Centre.

"Old Memories with Arundhati Roy, whn she was Barking on Kashmir (sic)," says a tweet by him showing how he disrupted the book launch.

He had in 2014 set up a tea stall outside the Congress headquarters as a protest against party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's 'chaiwala' remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Bagga, who is frequently involved in Twitter spats with the party's rivals and critics, had earlier this month challenged actress Konkona Sen Sharma to prove his claims to be wrong and promised to quit politics.

Sharma had called him out for tweeting a video of a protest at the Gateway of India in Mumbai against the attack on JNU students in which he claimed "Muslim and Leftists students in Mumbai again Raised Slogans 'Hinduo se Aazadi' but this time not in Jamia or JNU , they raised Hinduo se Aazadi Slogans at Gateway of India Mumbai". - PTI

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