Know Jaswant Singh - 'Man Friday' of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee

New Delhi: Former BJP leader Jaswant Singh has been admitted to Army's R and R Hospital in Delhi. He is in coma and in a highly critical condition after falling at his house.His family members brought him to the hospital after finding him lying on the floor of the house in an unconscious state. According to reports, he has been put on ventilator.Who is Jaswant Singh?Jaswant Singh is one of the most experienced politicians of India. A former union minister, Jaswant is known for his political acumen and excellent command over a range of subjects including finance, defense, foreign relations and international diplomacy.Jaswant Singh was a powerful minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He held a number of important portfolios including foreign, defense and finance ministries in Vajpayee led NDA government.Vajpayee had enormous faith in Jaswant Singh and he used to include Singh in a majority of ministerial committees that were formed to take crucial policy decisions or resolve differences between different ministries and arms of the government.Jaswant Singh was considered to be the “Man Friday” of Vajpayee. Apart from advising Vajpayee on crucial foreign, defence and finance related matters, Jaswant Singh was also his chief political trouble-shooter.Jaswant Singh is remembered for frequently flying to Poes garden residence of Jaylalithaa for ironing out differences and listening to her demands. He was the unofficial political coordinator of NDA.It was Jaswant Singh who had initiated Indo-US strategic dialogue with Strobe Talbott, the then deputy secretary of state of US.Jaswant Singh held a number of meetings with Strobe Talbot and broke the ice that had freezed Indo-US relationship in the aftermath of India's nuclear tests in May 1998.Jaswant-Strobe dialogue paved the wave for India and US to understand each other's concern better. And it resulted in India and US forging strategic partnership forgetting the acrimonies of the past.Jaswant Singh was conferred the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for the year 2001.After BJP lost the elections in 2004, the party made him the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha. He continued in that position till 2009.In 2009, he was elected to 15th Lok Sabha from Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency.Jaswant Singh's relationship with his party soured for the first time when he praised Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in his book titled “Jinnah - India, Partition, and Independence.”In that book, Jaswant had praised Jinnah and had put the blame for partition majorly on Congress party. Jaswant's relations with BJP deteriorated so much that the party expelled him on 19 August 2009.Jaswant was re-inducted into BJP in June 2010 and veteran BJP leader L K Advani played an important role in his comeback to the party."It is good to be back in familiar surroundings... I wish to unreservedly express my gratitude to Advaniji who took the initiative," Singh had said after he joined BJP once again.The BJP made him the NDA candidate for the post of Vice president in 2012. Jaswant was extended support by some non-NDA parties like AIADMK as well but he lost to UPA candidate Hamid Ansari.Although Jaswant Singh was re-inducted after his expulsion but things were no longer the same for him. He was a close confidant of Atal Bihari Vajpayee but unfortunately for him, Vajpayee era was over by now owing to the poor health of the former Prime Minister.Advani was his other close friend in BJP but even he was getting sidelined in the party. Ironically, Advani also lost support within BJP after he praised the same Mohammad Ali Jinnah during his Pakistan visit.With the advent of Modi era, both Advani and Jaswant were getting marginalized in the party. Jaswant Singh's isolation reached to its nadir when he was denied a ticket from his home district Barmer in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.Jaswant revolted against the party and filed his papers from Barmer Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate. Jaswant, however, lost the elections to BJP candidate Col Sonaram Choudhary. But his defiance forced BJP to expel him once again from the party for 6 years.Jaswant Singh had criticized Narendra Modi's candidature for PM post during 2014 LS campaign but he had gone soft on Modi after he led BJP to a splendid victory in 2014 elections.In an article titled “A New Vision for India” , Jaswant Singh wrote that the victory of Narendra Modi in this election implies a strategic transformation ahead for India's foreign policy."An era of timidity and hesitation, bordering on paralysis, under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance has ended,” Jaswant had added.Prime Minister Modi had responded positively to Jaswant Singh's softening of stand and wrote a letter to the expelled BJP leader seeking his contribution in "nation-buidling".Jaswant Singh was born to Thakur Sardara Singh and Kunwar Baisa on January 3, 1938 at village Jasol in Barmer district of Rajasthan. Jaswant Singh was married to Sheetal Kumari and the couple was blessed with two sons.Jaswant Singh's son Manvendra Singh is a BJP MLA in Rajasthan but his relationship with party has also soured after he reportedly campaigned for his father in Barmer in 2014 LS elections. He was expelled from party's national executive for campaigning against party's official candidate.