Mahajan death a body blow to BJP

New Delhi: The death of its master strategist and fund raiser, Pramod Mahajan, came at a time when the BJP, not in the best of health, desperately needed him.

A thinker, tactician, an excellent orator, regarded second only to Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mahajan was the BJP's "ultimate crisis manager." His networking had cut across political lines.

Vajpayee had anointed him as the future face of the BJP by describing Advani as "Ram" and Mahajan as "Lakhsman". Dogged by controversies, Mahajan was also a graceful loser.

While L.K. Advani was the chief architect of the BJP's failed "India Shining" and "Feel Good campaign", it was Mahajan who stepped forward to take full blame for the party's debacle in the last general elections.

He would often say: "No battle is lost till the last ship is sunk."

Once asked whether the party's debacle could be the end of the road for him he laughed; "Isn't there a movie called Never Say Die? Where is the question of dying at 54?"

Fifty-six-year-old Mahajan passed away at 4.10pm yesterday.

Born in 1949, the journey of this charismatic leader began at Ambejogai in the Beed district of Marathawada.

In 1989, Mahajan carved the BJP's alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. It was a masterstroke, which felled the Congress in the state in 1995. And since then, Mahajan dominated Maharashtra politics.

Aided by Mahajan's "political instinct and backroom manoeuvring", within a year Vajpayee became the prime minister for 13 days in 1996. And after two years, Vajpayee went on to rule the country for the next six years.

Mahajan, a product of grass root politics, emerged as the modern face of a conservative party. Mahajan entered politics through the RSS. He was spotted by a senior RSS leader, Vasantrao Bhagwat. Mahajan then quit his job as school teacher in 1974 to become a full time pracharak. He had also worked in the RSS mouthpiece Tarun Bharat. Mahajan held a Master's degree in Political Science.

In 1973-74, Mahajan took part in the Marathawada agitation and finally joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. During the Emergency, Mahajan was arrested and put behind bars. Later he went on to become the office bearer of the Maharashtra unit of the Janata party which was led by the veteran Socialist S.M. Joshi.

During 1978-80 he came in contact with Sharad Pawar, who led the first non-Congress government in the state under the Progressive Democratic Front. Mahajan contested Lok Sabha elections thrice from Mumbai and managed to win only one. He grabbed media attention as a fiery orator, when he joined L.K.Advani on his rath yatra in 1990 and in 1992, he went on to become BJP general secretary.

A great survivor in the turbulent saffron politics, Mahajan had worked his way hard up in the party hierarchy. Starting as the right hand man of Advani, Mahajan rapidly moved closer to Vajpayee, who made him Defence Minister in his 13-day government in 1996.

He went on to become Political Advisor to Vajpayee in 1998.

Be it the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, links with corporate houses, controversies remained a part of his political life. Before the general elections, following controversies as Telecommunication Minister, Mahajan was dropped and sent for party work.

He worked quietly and took on the onus of organising the election campaign for the 2004 general elections. He survived the party's debacle and emerged BJP's "Lakshman" and a key player in the BJP chief Rajnath Singh's team.