Poonam Mahajan Rao Politician
Poonam Mahajan Rao (born 9 December 1980) in a Maharashtrian family is a politician of the BJP in India. She is the daughter of Mrs Rekha Mahajan and the late Pramod Mahajan, who was one of the most prominent leaders in BJP. She and her brother Rahul Mahajan both are trained pilots. She is married to Anand Rao Vajendla, an industrialist from Hyderabad. Prior to her father's murder in 2006, Poonam Mahajan did not hold a high public profile. Following his death, she took up the mantle of his political heir. On October 31, 2006, Poonam Mahajan joined the BJP as a normal member of the party, with the encouragement of her uncle Gopinath Munde, himself an ex-Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra state. In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections she made efforts to register new and young voters in south Mumbai and subsequently expected to get the LS ticket from that area. However due to internal differences within the party and with Shiv sena she was denied a ticket. She is one of the few young leaders present in the BJP fold and thus expected a ticket to be rewarded on youth appeal, but that wasn't to be. However she has put up a brave face and has been tirelessly campaigning all around the nation. Poonam lost the 2009 Maharashtra assembly elections against an MNS candidate from Ghatkopar West. She was among the many leaders from BJP-SS who lost election due to the MNS wave in Maharashtra. BJP Yuva Morcha is the youth wing of the parent body and as per internal constitution it elects/selects new team after every 3–5 years. On 13 August 2010 Poonam Mahajan was made National Vice President of BJP Yuva Morcha.