Poonam Mahajan

Education

Professional Diploma in Leadership, Brighton School of Business and Management

Completed 300 Hours of commercial pilot training from Dallas, Texas  

Early & Personal Life

Poonam Mahajan was born in a Maharashtrian family in Mumbai to Rekha Mahajan and the late Pramod Mahajan (leader of Bharatiya Janata Party). Her brother is Rahul Mahajan. She is married to Anand Rao Vejandla, an industrialist from Hyderabad. They have a son named Aadya Rao, and a daughter named Avika Rao. Poonam Mahajan is also related to the late Gopinath Munde, ex-Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, whose wife Pradnya Munde is her father’s younger sister.

Her father Pramod Mahajan was tragically murdered in 2006, by his brother Pravin Mahajan.

Career

Poonam Mahajan is a two time MP from Mumbai North Central and is the National President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP. She is the youngest woman to ever become the National Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party. Following her father's demise in 2006, Poonam Mahajan took a vow to fulfill her father's unfinished dream and plunged into politics by taking the active membership of BJP with the encouragement of her uncle Gopinath Munde.

Poonam Mahajan's core areas of interests include urban infrastructure, gender equality, sanitation, animal welfare and environment conservation. She is a member of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra’s war room that oversees implementation of marquee infrastructure projects of the State Government of Maharashtra.

Poonam Mahajan has raised several issues in Parliament including provision of free legal aid, need to expand work of the National Translation Mission, Community based programs for malnutrition, environment related offences, occupational diseases, Food Early Warning System, research and development for hybrid vehicles and atrocities against women and children among other things. She has specifically raised issues related to Mumbai such as the issue of rehabilitation of slum dwellers living on airport land, rejuvenation of Mithi river, issues relating to Mumbai’s suburban rail and rehabilitation of street vendors.

Being an avid animal lover, Poonam Mahajan has been at the forefront for conservation of animals and equally contributing towards preserving the environment. She serves as a mentor to Swachhalay, a non-profit organization led by a group of enthusiastic teenagers that work towards the vision for Clean India.  Poonam Mahajan is also the Parade Ambassador for Elephant Family, an organization with HRH Prince of Wales & Dutchess of Cornwall as its Royal Patrons working on the conservation of Elephants across the world.

To improve the quality of life in villages, Ms. Mahajan adopted two villages – Charoti and Vaghadi – Under the aegis of Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, a scheme launched by Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in October, 2014. Under her leadership, a village development plan was formulated in each village to enable infrastructure creation, employment generation, encouraging innovative practices, promoting gender equality and improving health and educational outcomes for children.

Apart from that, Poonam Mahajan is also on the Board of Governors at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), a premier educational institute of the Ministry of Textiles.

Networth (Assets & Liabilities)

Assets: Rs 22,242,513

Liabilities: NIL

Controversy

Poonam Mahajan claimed that the Mumbai farmers agitation was fuelled by Naxals and Maoists and publicly commented that it was the Maharashtra government responsibility to sit with these farmers who have been 'captured' by Maoists who have their base in Pune and solve their problems

Her husband builder Anand Rao has been accused in a case of forgery and corruption along with nine others including two officers of the Slum Redevelopment Authority of Maharastra. Anand Rao and Sameer Jani, who is also the supposed architect of said project, are directors of Global Buildcon Construction and are accused of carrying out construction work without necessary clearance from the forest and environment department. It has also been alleged that Samir Jani is not an architect by profession. 

Anand Rao was also briefly in the news in February 2004 when it was revealed that Reliance Infocomm gave shares to one Ashish Deora through shell companies at only Rs 1 per share. Deora had floated the company India Online with Poonam Mahajan and Anand Rao. At the time, Mahajan Sr clarified that Rao had been part of the company even before the engagement to his daughter and before he himself became Union communications minister. IDBI sanctioned a loan of Rs 19.35 crore to India Online.

References

http://poonammahajan.com/

https://www.news18.com/news/india/poonam-mahajan-faces-backlash-after-calling-pawar-shakuni-mama-mamata-didi-manthara-2025501.html

https://www.firstpost.com/politics/mumbai-farmers-protest-bjp-mp-poonam-mahajan-says-urban-maoists-were-behind-agitation-4387671.html

http://mumbaivotes.com/politicians/1108/

https://currentnews.in/the-slum-route-to-riches/