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Journalism of Courage
When Nitish Kumar joined hands with the BJP again and was sworn in for a record ninth term as Bihar Chief Minister on January 28, he had two deputy CMs on his side: state BJP president Samrat Choudhary and erstwhile Leader of Opposition Vijay Sinha.
Choudhary is OBC and Sinha is Bramhin — and the deputy CM post to the leaders sends out a strong signal ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The appointment of a deputy CM, which has been a long-standing feature of Indian politics, represents a political compromise that often follows the formation of a coalition government, or when no single leader commands unchallenged authority in the party in power or loyalty across all the key interest groups in the state.
In fact, this practice is becoming more prominent. Four of the five states that went to polls in November — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh — currently have deputy CMs. And all major states, barring Tamil Nadu and Kerala, also have the post.
The post of Deputy CM
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”.
Neither Article 163 nor Article 164 (“Other provisions as to Ministers”), sub clause (1) of which 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.
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.
Across various states
At least 13 other states in the country apart from Bihar currently have Deputy CMs. The highest of these is in Andhra Pradesh, with Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy having five Deputies. Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar (Maharashtra) and Dushyant Chautala (Haryana) hold the post as part of coalition governments. Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak in UP; DK Shivakumar in Karnataka; Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bhairwa in Rajasthan; Rajendra Shukla and Jagadish Devda in Madhya Pradesh; Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma in Chhattisgarh; Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in Telangana; Mukesh Agnihotri in Himachal Pradesh are deputy CMs from the same party. Meghalaya has two Deputy CMs, as does Nagaland. Arunachal Pradesh has one.
Perhaps the first Deputy CM in India was Anugrah Narayan Sinha, an upper caste Rajput leader from Aurangabad, who was the most important leader of the Congress in Bihar after the first Chief Minister of the state, Dr Srikrishna Singh (Sinha).
Deputy CMs were seen in more states, especially after the reduction of the Congress’s near-total dominance on national politics after 1967. Some examples:
BIHAR: Anugrah Narayan Sinha remained Deputy CM until his death in 1957. Karpoori Thakur became the second Deputy CM of Bihar in 1967, in the state’s first non-Congress government led by Mahamaya Prasad Sinha. Subsequently, Jagdeo Prasad and Ram Jaipal Singh Yadav were appointed Deputy CMs.
UTTAR PRADESH: Ram Prakash Gupta of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) became Deputy Chief Minister in the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) government that came to power in 1967 with Chaudhary Charan Singh as Chief Minister.
This experiment was repeated in the next government under Chief Minister Chandra Bhanu Gupta of the Congress — when Kamalapati Tripathi was sworn in as Deputy CM in February 1969. Both Ram Prakash Gupta and Tripathi went on to become CMs themselves.
MADHYA PRADESH: Virendra Kumar Saklecha of the BJS became Deputy CM in the SVD government led by Govind Narain Singh that came to power in July 1967.
HARYANA: Haryana has had a tradition of Deputy CMs; Chaudhary Chand Ram, a Jat leader from Rohtak, was the first to hold this position in the short-lived government led by Rao Birender Singh.
Deputy Prime Ministers
India has also seen several Deputy Prime Ministers — a post that was first held by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister. Nehru and Patel were the two tallest leaders of the Congress at the time, and were also seen as representing two different streams of thinking within the party.
Among those who held the position subsequently were Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Chaudhary Devi Lal, and Lal Krishna Advani.
Devi Lal’s appointment as Deputy PM in VP Singh’s government in 1989 was challenged in court on the ground that “the oath administered to him as such was not…in accordance with the prescription of the Constitution”.
In K M Sharma vs Devi Lal and Ors (1990), the Supreme Court upheld Devi Lal’s appointment “in view of the clear statement made by the learned Attorney General that Respondent No. 1 (Lal) is just a Minister like other members of the Council of Ministers, though he has been described as Deputy Prime Minister… The description of him as Deputy Prime Minister does not confer on him any powers of the Prime Minister”.
