Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (b. 1949)

Pramod Vyankatesh Mahajan (30 October 1949 – 3 May 2006) was an Indian politician from Maharashtra. A second-generation leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he belonged to a group of relatively young "technocratic" leaders. At the time of his death, he was in a power struggle for the leadership of the BJP, given the imminent retirement of its aging top brass. 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.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.