He is BJP’s tomorrow man

One of the most prominent faces of the BJP, Pramod Mahajan is regarded as the most high-profile leader in the party’s second generation. Suave and media-savvy, Mahajan, 56, enjoys a wide network of friends in the political class and is considered close to the BJP’s two top leaders, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani.

Mahajan began his career as a sub-editor with pro-RSS Marathi daily ‘Tarun Bharat’. Though elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996, he could never emerge as a mass leader and came to be acknowledged for his managerial skills and his skills in dealing with people and finances.

Mahajan came to play a vital backroom role ever since the coalition era dawned in Indian politics in the late 1980s. In 1979, he was in the select batch of RSS workers who were co-opted to the BJP. He did not look back since.

He was named president of the All India Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in 1986, after having been general secretary of the BJP’s Maharashtra unit in 1978-83.

But in his long career —- as a party strategist, as a minister, as MP — he has come to be seen as a “fixer”, one who could get things done. Mahajan was also the architect of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance that ruled Maharashtra.

He represented Mumbai in the Lok Sabha in 1996-98 and was defence minister in the 13-day Vajpayee government of 1996. In his early days, he taught English at Kholeshwar college in Ambejogai.

For some time, he dabbled in journalism and served as a reporter in one of the local Marathi dailies. It was in Ambejogai that he first came into contact with his future brother-in-law Gopinath Munde.

The family tree
BJP all India general secretary Pramod Mahajan is the second of five children born to Venkatesh and Prabhavati Mahajan. He was born on October 30, 1949 at Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh.

His eldest sister Pratibha lives in Parli-Vaijanath near the temple town of Ambejogai in Beed district. The third sibling is his brother Prakash Mahajan, an agriculturist in Aurangabad.

The fourth is Pradnya, married to Gopinath Munde, BJP floor leader in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The fifth and the youngest is Pravin Mahajan.

The Mahajan family migrated from their home in Mahajan gully in Osmanabad to Ambejogai and stayed in a rented house in Mangalwar Peth. Educated at Yogeshwari high school in Ambejogai (Beed), university of Pune and Aurangabad, Mahajan, an MA in Political Science, also did BA in Journalism.

Pramod Mahajan’s love for the theatre brought him close to Rekha Hamine, whom he married after a courtship on March 11, 1972. Mahajan has two children, daughter Poonam and son Rahul.

Both the children are trained pilots. His daughter is married to the son of late V V Rao, ex-BMC chief fire officer. Mahajan recently became a proud grandfather.  -- Prashant Haimane