Deputy Prime Minister & Deputy Chief Minister

NEWS: Ajit Pawar takes oath as Maharashtra Deputy CM: A look at the post, its history

Present Scenario in States

• At present, twelve states in the country have Deputy CMs. 
• Recently, TS Singhdeo was also appointed as Deputy Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.
• Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy of Andhra Pradesh has as many as five Deputies.

View of Constitution

• Neither Article 163 nor Article 164 of the constitution mentions the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
•  Article 163(1) of the Constitution says “there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions”.
•  Article 164 (1) says “the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister”, mentions a Deputy Chief Minister.

 Reason

• Deputy Chief Ministers are appointed due to a political compromise that happens when no single leader commands unchallenged authority in the party or coalition government in power.

History of Deputy prime minister/deputy chief minister

• The first Deputy CM in India was Anugrah Narayan Sinha, who remained Deputy CM in Bihar until his death in 1957.
• Deputy CMs were seen in more states, especially after the reduction of the Congress’s near-total dominance on national politics after 1967.

Status of Deputy prime minister/deputy chief minister

• The post of Deputy CM is understood as being equivalent in rank to that of Cabinet Minister (in the state).
• The Deputy CM enjoys the same pay and perks as a Cabinet Minister.

Deputy Prime Minister

• First held by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister.
• Devi Lal’s appointment as Deputy PM in V P Singh’s government in 1989 .

 List of Deputy Prime Minister

Deputy PM	Tenure	Prime Minister
Vallabhbhai Patel	1947 – 1950	Jawaharlal Nehru
Morarji Desai	1967 – 1969	Indira Gandhi
Charan Singh	1979	Morarji Desai
Jagjivan Ram	1979	Morarji Desai
Yashwantrao Chavan	1979 – 1980	Charan Singh
Devi Lal	1989 – 1991	Vishwanath Pratap Singhand Chandra Shekhar
Lal Krishna Advani	2002 – 2004	Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Practice Questions for Prelims

Which of the following are not mentioned in the Constitution of India?
1. Council of Ministers
2. Collective responsibility
3. Resignation of Ministers
4. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Select the correct answer from the codes given below:
a) 1 and 2
b) 2 and 3
c) 3 and 4
d) 1 and 3

Ans. c)

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