B'day special: Pramod Mahajan “BJP's resourceful leader and master strategist

New Delhi: Pramod Venkatesh Mahajan was one of the most resourceful politicians of his times. He had the ability of getting things done with remarkable ease and that's why he was always entrusted with handling critical responsibilities in the party and the NDA government. Before NDA came to power in 1998, he was supposed to be very close to L K Advani but after formation of NDA government, he won over the confidence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpaee and became his blue-eyed boy. Pramod Mahajan's journey from being the son of a poor teacher to a journalist to the Union Minister of India is both interesting and inspiring. Born on 30 October 1949, Pramod was a born leader. He had the ability to take along people from different caste and ideology. The untimely death of his father, forced Pramod to take the responsibility of his family at the young age of 21. He had successfully gained control over the university students' council by making an alliance of students of different castes. Pramod Mahajan was a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood but he actively got involved when he worked as a sub-editor of its Marathi Newspaper, Tarun Bharat in 1970 and 1971. He took part in the agitation against the state of emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was incarcerated in the Nashik central jail until it was lifted. Pramod Mahajan was one of the select batch of RSS who co-opted into BJP and was general secretary in the state unit of the BJP till 1985. Pramod Mahajan contested only three Lok Sabha elections but he won only once and lost two elections. Pramod Mahajan contested the first Lok Sabha election in 1984 but he lost it. He contested next two Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai-North East constituency. He won the eat in 1996 but lost in 1998. Pramod Mahajan was a member of parliament most of the time from Rajya Sabha. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1986–92, 1992–96, 1998–2004 and for the last time in 2004. Pramod Mahajan played the role of the master strategist for BJP. He was the man who was the brain behind Advani's historic Rath Yatra from ‘Somnath' to ‘Ayodhya'. He was also in-charge of Murali Manohar Josi's ‘Ekata' yatra from Kashmir to ‘Kanya Kumari'. The Lok Sabha elections of 1996 brought the BJP to power and Mahajan was appointed Defence Minister in Vajpayee's 13 day ministry. When the BJP returned to power in 1998, he was first appointed as advisor to the Prime Minister. He resigned from that post and stood for Rajya Sabha elections in July 1998. He won and in December 1998, he was appointed the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, and Food Processing. A year later, in October 1999, he was moved to Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources. He relinquished Water Resources a month later in November and took charge of Information Technology (in addition to Parliamentary Affairs). In 2001, he was appointed Β] to the Communications ministry but was dropped in 2003 reshuffle owing to his differences with Arun Shourie. He was sent back to party as one of the general secretaries. Some commentators also described his removal as a result of Atal-Advani fight. On the morning of 22 April 2006, Mahajan's estranged younger brother, Pravin Mahajan shot him with his licensed .32 Browning pistol at his home. Four bullets were fired. The first missed Mahajan, but the other three were lodged in his liver and pancreas, damaging several internal organs. After struggling for his life for 13 days, Mahajan suffered from a cardiac arrest and died on 3 May 2006. Pramod Mahajan is survived by his wife Rekha, a son Rahul Mahajan (TV personality) and a daughter Poonam Mahajan (aspiring politician).