Ashok Saikia, who was a key pointsman in the Prime Minister’s Office when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in charge, died today after a heart surgery. He was a day short of 60.

The 1971 batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre rose to be additional secretary in the PMO, in charge of education, agriculture, and the tricky but all-important task of handling bureaucratic appointments and transfers.

Because of his honest, no-nonsense approach, Saikia was referred to by many colleagues as the prime minister's conscience keeper. They say he wasn't one to suffer red-tape and if he felt something needed to be done, he would go ahead and get it done. Given the good rapport he maintained with colleagues and bureaucrats in other ministries, he rarely ruffled feathers.

Brajesh Mishra, who was principal secretary in the PMO when Saikia was there, described him as a "very intelligent and valued colleague."

Shortly before its term ended, the Vajpayee government had nominated him for a deputation with the Asian Development Bank, Manila. This ran into some opposition with the UPA government that took over, but eventually Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared it and Saikia joined the bank in July 2004.

When he returned on completion of that posting in August this year, he had a few months to go before retirement. He sought extension of the ADB posting but it wasn't cleared by the UPA government. Rather than wait for the government to decide on a new posting, he went on leave and was living in Gurgaon. He would have retired tomorrow.

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