Here is one way you can put the life of Brajesh Mishra in context. If you asked the top leadership of this UPA government to name one person they could inherit from the NDA, the answer was instant: Brajesh Mishra. Obviously, this was not primarily for his strategic (as in security and foreign policy) talent. In that area, the UPA believes it is well-endowed. It was for the way he had perfected the craft of exercising the PMO's power even in a messy alliance  and within the Sangh Parivar. This while giving total cover, and, in that brilliant expression immortalised by the notorious Lt Colonel Oliver North in the Iran-Contra hearings in the US Congress in 1987, "plausible deniability" to the "boss", as Mishra always referred to Vajpayee.

It was helpful, of course, that Vajpayee trusted him probably even more than Narasimha Rao trusted A.N. Verma. Rao would still read the files put up by Verma before signing. Vajpayee usually didn't. I have had this gem salted away from one lazy early evening in 1999 (the Lahore bus ride and Kargil year). Mishra walked in holding a drink, barefooted and his trouser legs folded two turns so they wouldn't drag or trip him, and asked if certain files had been signed. "Kar diya, jaisa aap ne kaha", said Vajpayee. "Kintu dhyanpoorvak dekh ke likha thha na aapne? Kahin kuchh gadbad par hastakshar ho jayein aur kal phir Shekhar ji jail pahuncha dein."

Briefly: Signed as you said I should, but I hope you were careful not to get me into an embarrassing situation. It was typical Vajpayee, pulling the leg of two persons at the same time. But it spoke of the trust between them. Remember how Vajpayee rose to Mishra's defence when the RSS wanted his head. And Advani, who thought he was an interloper and a busybody and primarily responsible for the rift between the BJP's top two, and their families, wanted to cut him down to size. Vajpayee said they could take his job instead.

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