In life and politics, they were brothers in arms. Death, too, came suddenly to the BJP leaders >Gopinath Munde and Pramod Mahajan.
Both leaders died on the 3rd day of a month. Unlike Munde who died almost instantly, Mahajan had lingered for almost two weeks after being shot by his younger brother Pravin in 2006. Neither was destined to die a natural death.
Their lives were cut short at a juncture when both were trying to carve out their space in the party’s turf war. Pramod Mahajan was among the Gen Next leaders locked in a battle for supremacy in the BJP’s central leadership. Munde was hoping to emerge as the party’s chief ministerial candidate for Maharashtra.
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The duo were linked by strong ties of blood. Munde was married to Mahajan’s younger sister Pradnya. They were also self-made men, born without political mentors from the same deprived region of Marathwada. Both their daughters – MLA Pankaja Munde-Palwe and MP Poonam Mahajan – have inherited their political mantle.
The cycle of tragedy includes the death of Pravin Mahajan, who succumbed to a brain haemorrhage on March 3, 2010 while serving a life sentence for murdering his brother. In Munde’s death, the only hope for reconciliation between the estranged families of Pramod and Pravin Mahajan is perhaps over.