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Vajpayee's trouble shooter returns

Pramod Mahajan, with a reputation of being Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's trouble shooter, returns to the Centre after a gap of two years.

Mahajan served as defence minister during Vajpayee's first stint as prime minister in 1996.

A staunch RSS activist, Mahajan has worked as a whole-time pracharak for the Jan Sangh, Janata Party and the BJP for the last 25 years. He is the main architect of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra.

He was detained during the Emergency. He served as Maharashtra BJP general secretary from 1978 to 1983. In 1983, he became the all-India secretary of the BJP, a post he held till 1985.

In 1986, he was made the party's general secretary for a year and had another stint in the post from 1992 to April this year when the prime minister appointed him as his political advisor.

Mahajan, who served the Rajya Sabha from 1986 to 1996, quit as the prime minister's political advisor a few days before being re-elected to the RS in July this year.

Known for his pragmatic approach to political problems, he was president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, youth wing of the BJP, from 1990 to 1992.

UNI

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