Pramod Mahajan
Pramod Mahajan | |
---|---|
Mumbai North East | |
Personal details | |
Born | Pramod Venkatesh Mahajan 30 October 1949 Hyderabad State (present-day Telangana), India |
Died | 3 May 2006 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India | (aged 56)
Cause of death | Homicide |
Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
Spouse | Rekha Mahajan |
Children | Rahul Mahajan Poonam Mahajan |
Relatives | Gopinath Munde (brother-in-law) |
Residence(s) | Worli, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
As of 5 May 2006 Source: [2] |
Pramod Venkatesh Mahajan (30 October 1949 – 3 May 2006) was an Indian politician from Maharashtra.
He was a member of the Rajya Sabha and a General Secretary of his party. He contested only two Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai – North East constituency. He won in 1996 but lost in 1998. As Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's telecommunications minister between 2001 and 2003, he played a major role in India's cellular revolution. He was widely seen as a successful Parliamentary Affairs minister due to his good relations with members of political parties across the ideological spectrum.[3]
On 22 April 2006, he was shot by his brother Pravin Mahajan over a family dispute. He succumbed to his injury 13 days later. Pravin was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment by the court in 2007.
Early life
Pramod Mahajan was born to Venkatesh Devidas Mahajan and Prabhavati Venkatesh Mahajan in
His love for theatre brought him close to Rekha Hamine, whom he courted and married on 11 March 1972. They have two children, daughter
He worked as an English teacher at the Kholeshwar College in Ambejogai between 1971 and 1974 before joining active politics during the
Political career
Mahajan was a member of
He took part in the agitation against the
Mahajan's aspirations were always national, but he also did a significant amount of work in building up his party's fortunes in his home state of Maharashtra. In this, he was partnered with his childhood friend-turned brother-in-law Gopinath Munde (who is married to his sister Pradnya). Mahajan was responsible for his party's alliance with the Shiv Sena. The alliance went on to win the state assembly elections in 1995 and ruled till 1999. Munde was the deputy chief minister in that government.[7]
Mahajan came to play a vital role during the coalition era of the late 1980s. He rose to national prominence when he helped organize BJP President
Despite being credited with responsibility for his party's numerous election victories, Mahajan rarely contested or won popular elections himself. He had been elected to Parliament many times, but mostly through the Rajya Sabha, the indirectly elected upper house. He served in the Rajya Sabha in 1986–92, 1992–96, 1998–2004 and for the last time in 2004.
Government
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[9] to the Communications ministry under controversial circumstances. The earlier telecom policy of the government, formulated in 1994,[10] had allowed private participation in cellular telephony after open bidding, on payment of a license fee determined through the bidding. However, after winning the contracts the telecom companies found themselves unable to pay the fixed license fees, supposedly because the victors fell victim to the Winner's curse.[11] The then Minister for Communications, Jagmohan attempted tough action[12] against the defaulting companies, but was sacked.[13] After this, Prime Minister Vajpayee himself took over the cabinet portfolio (with Ram Vilas Paswan as minister of state) and oversaw the formulation of the New Telecom Policy of 1999.[14] The policy replaced fixed license fees with a revenue sharing agreement, a move that was widely criticized[15] for changing rules midway and causing loss of revenue to the government. Mahajan, who succeeded to the post in August 2001, after a cabinet reshuffle (that also merged the department of Information technology with the Telecommunications portfolio) had the task of implementing this policy.
During his tenure, the number of new telephone connections enjoyed unprecedented growth and rentals fell by a large amount. However, he was also accused of favouring
He was also involved in a dispute
Alleged irregularities as minister of telecom
Mahajan was seen as being close to various lobbyists and corporate houses and there were numerous allegations of financial irregularities during his tenure in the Ministry of Telecom. One of the foremost allegations is his blatant favoring of the Reliance Group in exchange for alleged underhand financial dealings. A relative of Sudhanshu Mittal, a close associate of Pramod Mahajan and his own son-in-law were found to have been one of the beneficiaries benami shares of Reliance Industries being transferred into shell companies.[19]
Further, In 2006,
Allegations for role in Shivani Bhatnagar's death
Mahajan was accused of orchestrating the murder of former Indian Express journalist Shivani Bhatnagar by Madhu Sharma, the wife of IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma who was an accused in the murder and in police custody.[22]
Bhatnagar was murdered on 23 January 1999. The investigation had gone on for three years and was out of the media spotlight till Sharma's arrest.[23] His motive for the murder, according to the Delhi Police, was that he had fathered Bhatnagar's child and was under pressure from her to marry him. Madhu made statements in the press claiming that it was, in fact, Mahajan who had the affair and was the actual father. She challenged him to a DNA test. Mahajan agreed to take the test but eventually did not as the Delhi Police dismissed Sharma's claim as an emotional outburst as she was unable to provide any concrete evidence in support of her charges.[citation needed]
2003 and 2004 elections
Assassination
On the morning of 22 April 2006, Mahajan's estranged younger brother, Pravin shot him with his licensed
Pravin surrendered at the
See also
References
- ^ Revathi Krishnan (3 May 2020). "Pramod Mahajan, BJP's master strategist and troubleshooter before Amit Shah". theprint.in. ThePrint. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
Pramod Mahajan was the brain behind the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra and was believed to be the only person Bal Thackeray trusted in the party
- ^ Biswas, Soutik (30 December 2005). "What next for the BJP?". BBC News. Retrieved 2 September 2005.
- ^ "Mahajan, Shri Pramod. Biographical sketch". Rajya Sabha. Archived from the original on 30 April 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006.
- ^ "BJP loses its master strategist". Rediff News. 3 May 2006.
"Pramod Mahajan's was a truly meteoric rise in the country's political landscape...The wily 56-year old Deshastha Brahmin was not only the Bharatiya Janata Party's master strategist...
- ^ a b c "He is BJP's tomorrow man". Daily News and Analysis. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006.
- ^ Priya Sahgal (8 May 2006). "Flair and flamboyance – Pramod Mahajan: Fastest rising leader of his generation in BJP". India Today. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- ^ Firdaus, Ashraf (4 May 2006). "How Mahajan kept the BJP-Sena together". Rediff. Retrieved 7 September 2006.
- ^ "List of Rajya Sabha members". Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
- ^ "'Our telecom services don't match world standards yet'". Rediff.com. 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- ^ "National Telecom Policy, 1994". Telecom regulatory authority of India. 1994. Archived from the original on 20 February 2006. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- ^ "How telecom wires got so tangled". Business Line. 2003. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- ^ "Jagmohan wags a warning finger at telecom companies". Rediff.com. 1999. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- ^ "A man slighted". Rediff.com. 1999. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- ^ "National Telecom Policy, 1999". Telecom regulatory authority of India. 1999. Archived from the original on 8 April 2006. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- ^ "The telecom tangle". Hindu on the net. 1999. Archived from the original on 20 December 2001. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ [1]| url = http://www.flonnet.com/fl2301/stories/20060127004603000.htm Archived 26 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine | title = Seeking accountability | publisher = Frontline on the net | accessdate = 26 April 2006}}
- ^ "Arun Shourie hits back at Mahajan". The Tribune. 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- ^ "Shourie warns telecom players". The Tribune. 2003. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- ^ "the shadowy member of BJP". Ganpati News. 2010.
- ^ "All in the Family". The Indian Express. 2005.
- ^ "'No Mahajan links in sale of Reliance Info equity'". The Economic Times. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
- ^ "Shivani Bhatnagar Case". Rediff India. 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2006.
- ^ "A sordid affair". Frontline. 2002. Archived from the original on 30 April 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2006.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "We'll have a 4–0 lead". Rediff.com. 2003. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
- ^ "Hindutva not to be poll issue: BJP". Rediff.com. 2003. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
- ^ "The Assembly elections 2003 homepage". Rediff.com. 2003. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
- ^ "Mahajan accepts blame for BJP debacle". Rediff.com. 2004. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
- ^ The specialist who will treat Mahajan – Rediff News 23 April 2006
- ^ "Pramod Mahajan passes away". Rediff.com. 2006. Retrieved 3 May 2006.
- ^ State funeral given to Pramod Mahajan
- ^ "Attack on Pramod premeditated: Police". NDTV. Retrieved 24 April 2006.
- ^ Chargesheet changed from Attempt to Murder to Murder Archived 11 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Pravin gets life term for killing Pramod Mahajan". The Times of India. 18 December 2007. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2007.
- ^ Pravin Mahajan dies of brain hemorrhage – The Times of India 3 March 2010
- ^ "Pravin Mahajan is dead". The Hindu. Retrieved 3 March 2010.