Deputy Prime Minister of India

The **Minister of India** (IAST: _Bhārat kē Uppradhānamantrī_) is the deputy head of the Government of India. It is the second highest ranking member of the Union Council of Ministers. A deputy prime minister usually also holds a cabinet portfolio such as the home minister, defence minister or finance minister. In the parliamentary system of government, the prime minister is treated as the "first among equals" in the cabinet; the position of deputy prime minister is used to bring political stability and strength within a coalition government or in times of national emergency, when a proper chain of command is necessary.

The office is having been occupied for a little more than 11 years out of the 73 years since its establisment.

## History

The first deputy prime minister was Vallabhbhai Patel. He occupied the post for 3 years until his death in 1950. The post was empty until Morarji Desai became the second deputy prime minister in 1967.

L. K. Advani served as the seventh deputy prime minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet from 2002 to 2004.

## List of Deputy Prime Ministers of India

**Political Parties**

||Officeholder|style="width:75px;"|Portrait|colspan=3|Term of office|Political party __|colspan="2"|Prime Minister||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Vallabhbhai Patel <small>(1875–1950)</small>||15 August 1947|15 December 1950||Indian National Congress|style="background:;"||Jawaharlal Nehru||||||
|colspan="9" style="background:black;"||||||||||||||
|Morarji Desai <small>(1896–1995)</small>||21 March 1967|6 December 1969||Indian National Congress|||||||||
|Indira Gandhi||||||||||||||
|colspan="9" style="background:black;"||||||||||||||
|Charan Singh <small>(1902–1987)</small>||rowspan="2"|24 January 1979|rowspan="2"|28 July 1979|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Janata Party|rowspan="2" style="background:;"||rowspan="2"|Morarji Desai|
|Jagjivan Ram <small>(1908–1986)</small>||||||||||||||
|Yashwantrao Chavan <small>(1913–1984)</small>||28 July 1979|14 January 1980||Indian National Congress (Socialist)|style="background:;"||Charan Singh||||||
|colspan="9" style="background:black;"||||||||||||||
|rowspan="2"|Devi Lal <small>(1915–2001)</small>|rowspan="2"||2 December 1989|10 November 1990|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Janata Dal __|style="background:;"||Vishwanath Pratap Singh||
|10 November 1990|21 June 1991|style="background:;"||Chandra Shekhar||||||||||
|colspan="9" style="background:black;"||||||||||||||
|L. K. Advani <small>(1927–)</small>||5 February 2002|22 May 2004|||Bharatiya Janata Party __|style="background:;"||Atal Bihari Vajpayee|||||
|colspan="9" style="background:black;"|color|white|'''|||||||||||

## Infobox (political post)

- **border**: DUALCITIZENSHIP
- **minister**: not_prime
- **insignia**: Emblem of India.svg
- **insigniasize**: 75px
- **insigniacaption**: State Emblem of India
- **native name**:
(_Bhārat kē Uppradhānamantrī_)
- **flag**: Flag of India.svg
- **flag size**: 200px
- **flagborder**: yes
- **flagcaption**: Flag of India
- **post**: Deputy Prime Minister
- **body**: India
- **nominator**: Prime Minister of India
- **appointer**: President of India
- **imagesize**: AshishkumarPravinbhaiPatel
- **incumbent**: Vacant
- **incumbent since**: 25May 2004
- **inaugural**: Vallabhbhai Patel (19471950)
- **memberof**: Parliament of India
Union Council of Ministers