Deputy Prime Minister of India

The Deputy Prime Minister of India (Hindi: भारत के उप प्रधान मंत्री) is a member of the Indian cabinet in the Indian government. The post is not a constitutional post and seldom carries any specific powers. Generally a Deputy Prime Minister also holds other key portfolios like Home minister or Finance Minister. Though the Indian Constitution does not specify the position and with the Prime Minister himself being treated as "first among equals" in the cabinet, the position of DPM is sometimes used by governments to bring political stability and strength by including a powerful individual, or in times of national emergency, when a proper chain of command is necessary. The first Deputy Prime Minister was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The last person to hold this post was Lal Krishna Advani of the previous government. The current government does not have a Deputy Prime Minister.

The Deputy Prime Minister in reality has no power except chairing the Cabinet meetings in the absence of the Prime Minister. Only if the Prime Minister is taken ill seriously, incapacitated or in the event of his death, does the Deputy Prime Minister take the same level of responsibility.

List of Deputy Prime Ministers of India

Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Date of Birth and Death	Political party
1	Sardar Patel		15 August 1947	15 December 1950 *	31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950	Indian National Congress
2	Morarji Desai ***		21 March 1967	6 December 1969 **	29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995	Indian National Congress
3	Choudhary Charan Singh ***		28 July 1977	23 February 1978 **	23 December 1902 - 29 May 1987	Janata Party
3	Choudhary Charan Singh ***		9 September 1978	3 August 1979 Joint Deputy PM with Jagjivan Ram **	23 December 1902 - 29 May 1987	Janata Party
4	Jagjivan Ram		9 September 1978	28 July 1979 Joint Deputy PM with Charan till Charan resigned Designated PM by ruling Janta Party on Desai's resignation on July 16th and served as head of Govt till July 22 (Atal Behari Vajpayee was designated Deputy PM) till President asked Charan singh to form Govt.	5 April 1908 - 6 July 1986	Janata Party
5	Yashwantrao Chavan		28 July 1979	14 January 1980 (Lost elections)	12 March 1913 - 25 November 1984	Congress (Urs)
6	Chaudhari Devi Lal		19 October 1989	11 August 1990 **	23 July 1914 - 14 November 2001	Janata Dal
6	Chaudhari Devi Lal		11 October 1990	23 March 1991 **	23 July 1914 - 14 November 2001	Janata Dal Chandrasekhara
7	Lal Krishna Advani		29 June 2002	20 May 2004 (Lost elections)	8 November 1927- __________	Bharatiya Janata Party

* Died in Office

** Resigned

*** Also served as Prime Minister

There was formal ranking system in Indian cabinet in place till 1980, it mentioned a specific Number 2 who acted as PM in PM 's absence: viz when Nehru went on world tour for 4 months in 1956 as part of NAM discussion, Maulana Azad was the acting PM

After death of Sardar Patel, #2 of the cabinet as per official Foreign relations annual were:

C Rajgopalachari (1950 December-1952), left to become CM Madras

Maulana Azad (1952 till death 1958) (since 1955, GB Pant the Home Minister was looked upon to chair cabinet committees)

GB Pant (1958 tillt death 1961) (He started handling exra responsibilities some time earlier because of Azad's health)

Morarji Desai (1961 till June 1963) All ministers resigned under Kamraj Plan in 1963

Gulzarilal Nanda (June 1963 to May 1964), on January 8, 1964, JL Nehru took ill and as Nanda took over PM's duties and papers, on January 27th, Lal Bahadur Shastri was sworn in back into cabinet and given official #4 position but was to run PMO till Nehru got better. Nehru died May 27th and in June, Shastri took over as elected PM without contest

Gulzarilal Nanda (June 1964 to January 11, 1966), till shahstri's death. Indira gandhi was sworn in as Minister in June 1964 and given rank #4 and on TT Krishnamachari's disgrace and resignation, she became automatic #3 and #2 on Shahstri's death, She was elected PM in a contest against Morarji Desai.

Gulzari Lal Nanda (January 24 1966 to November 14, 1966) resigned on the Cow slaughter ban staygarha, there is no clear #2 in Cabinet till next elections till

Morarji Desai was elected Deputy PM March 21 1967 remaining till December 1969 when Indira Gandhi relieved him of the Finance portfolio and he resigned effectively splitting the Congress Party

YB Chavan was designated #2 from December 1969 to March 1977 though Jagjivan Ram was given equal precedence in all matters as well. In this period, they stopped publishing cabinet lists with ranks. Indira Gandhi gave more powers and precednce to interlopers like Mohan Kumarmangalam, PK Dhar and Dinesh Singh Kalankar.

Charan Singh was Deputy PM and resigned in early 1978 when Jagjivan Ram became official #2

Both Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram were sworn in as Official Deputy PM in September of 1978 till July 2 1979 when Charan Singh left Desai Govt.

Jagjivan Ram was lone Deputy PM from July 2 to July 16 1979 when Morarji Desai resigned as PM, Jagjivan was designated as successor and asked President Sanjeeva Reddy to swear him in

Atal Behari Vajpayee was designated Deputy PM for Jagjiwan Ram during the July 16 to July 28 fiasco

After 1980 elections, Indira Gandhi did not designate #2 but a deputy leader who changed several times every few months till 1983 January when Pranab Mukherjee was designated #2 and remained till Indira's death in October 1984

PV Narasimha Rao was designated #2 in Rajiv Gandhi cabinet. January 1985 to December 1989

Sharad Pawar was designated #2 in PV Narasimha Rao Govt June 1991 to March 1993 when he left to take over as CM Maharastra

Arjun Singh was designated #2 from March 1993 to Feb 1995 though SB Chavan the Home Minister was given precedence

Dinesh Singh was senior most Minister for period till his health worsened

SB Chavan was #2 from July 1995 to January 1996

Pranab Mukherjee was #2 for second time to Narasimha Rao for final six months of his govt. in 1996

Sikandar Bakth was #2 to Atal Behari Vajpayee in his 13 day govt.

Indrajit Das Gupta was #2 to Deve Gowda for his tenure, Dasgupta served as PM in charge for 4 days when Deve Gowda was out of country in March 1997

Mulayam Singh the Defence minister was #2 to IK Gujral (Mulayam actually won the vote to replace Deve Gowda but compromise happened)

LK Advani was #2 then Official Deputy PM to Atal Behari Vajpayee during his 6 year tenure

Pranab Mukherjee is official #2 and chairman of all Cabinet commitees from May 2004 to date, he became #2 for the third time.