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)

Pankaja Munde and Amit Palwe have a son named Aryaman Palwe

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 picture: Pankaja Munde with husband Amit Palwe and Jackie Shroff

Pankaja Munde has authored a photobiography of her father, titled Lokneta Gopinath Mund

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)

In 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls, Pankaja Munde would be fighting it out with Dhananjay Munde again in Parli Assembly segment in Beed district of Marathwada. The two were locked in a battle in 2014 too when Dhananjay, Gopinath's nephew, had lost by 2.5 lakh votes