Pankaja Munde is currently the Minister of Rural Development, Women and Child Welfare as well as Guardian Minister for Beed district in Government of Maharashtra. She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party
Pankaja Munde was born on July 26, 1979 to Gopinath Munde and Pradnya Munde. She has two younger siblings, Pritam Munde, and Yashashari Munde. She comes from a political family, Pankaja Munde's uncle the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan was a cabinet minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Pramod Mahajan's daughter and Pankaja Mude's cousin Poonam Mahajan, also belonging to the BJP serves as the Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Mumbai North Central, constituency, Maharashtra.
Pankaja Munde completed her Class 10 exams in 1994 in Parli in Beed district. She then joined Jai Hind College in south Mumbai where she completed her Class 12 (HSC) exams. Pankaja Munde graduated from R. Ruia College, Matunga, Mumbai. She is an MBA graduate. Pankaja Munde is married to IT professional Amit Palwe (in picture)
When Gopinath Munde passed away in a car accident in June 2014, Pankaja Munde, his eldest daughter, performed the last rites
Before the 2014 Maharashtra assembly election, Pankaja Munde planned and led a two-week 'Punha Sangharsh Yatra'. The 14 day-long Yatra was attended by politicians like Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Rajiv Pratap Rudy
Pankaja Munde's yatra was along the lines of a Sangharsh Yatra undertaken by her father Gopinath Munde in 1995 after which the Shiv Sena-BJP came to power in the state. The yatra was 3,000-km-long which traversed 79 Assembly constituencies in 21 districts of Maharashtra
The Yatra was a success and supporters of Pankaja Munde wanted to see her occupy the top post of the state. But she never aspired or planned to pitch herself as chief minister
In 2016, Pankaja Munde, launched child helpline mobile app 'CHIRAG' for the protection of child rights to fight against child abuse and protect their rights
In 2017, Pankaja Munde said that sanitary pads will be provided to school going girls at Rs 5 per pack by local Self Help Groups (SHGs). The move came at a time when there are demands from various section of the society to reduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) being levied on sanitary napkins
In Picture: Pankaja Munde with actor Akshay Kumar
Pankaja Munde is a niece of Pramod Mahajan and a cousin to Rahul Mahajan and Poonam Mahajan. (seen in the picture)
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