The Central home minister, L.K. Advani, has recently been appointed the deputy prime minister. He is one in a long list of deputy prime ministers. Despite it being common practice for a prime minister to appoint his deputy, the Indian Constitution has not provided for such an office. While Article 74(1) mentions a 'prime minister' and also a 'council of ministers' and Article 75(1) recognizes the office of the 'ministers', no mention is made of the office of the 'deputy prime minister'. The appointment of a deputy prime minister is therefore an extra-constitutional arrangement without any legal sanction. There has been speculation about the reason behind Advani's appointment. The most commonly held belief is that Atal Bihari Vajpayee's failing health has made him shift some of his responsibilities to Advani. Add to this the communal turmoil in the country, and it is obvious that the deputy prime minister has only been chosen due to the exigencies of the time. Similar exigencies have been behind the appointments of deputy prime ministers in the past. The office of the deputy prime minister was introduced when the first cabinet was formed after independence. It was offered to Vallabhbhai Patel in order to avert an organizational crisis in the Congress. After Patel's demise in 1951, the office was abolished. History repeats itself In 1969, the office had to be re-introduced to avoid a split in the Congress. While the Congress high command wanted to make Indira Gandhi the prime minister, Morarji Desai refused to give up his claim to the post, putting the party in a fix. After a dramatic 72-hour negotiation, a compromise was agreed on. While Indira Gandhi stayed on as the prime minister, Morarji Desai was made deputy prime minister. Upon his dismissal, the office was again abolished. In the 1977 polls, the Janata Dal came to power, and was later joined by the Congress for Democracy. Complications arose around the succession issue and two offices of deputy prime minister were promptly created. Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram were appointed to the posts. But the government soon collapsed following a split in the coalition. Charan Singh, as the leader of the breakaway group, Janata(S), formed his cabinet with the Congress(S) as an ally. Y.B. Chavan of the Congress(S) was made the deputy prime minister, but after an uneasy 24 days, the prime minister had to step down. Neither Indira Gandhi nor Rajiv Gandhi, during their terms as prime minister, felt the need for a deputy prime minister. But in 1989, after the Janata Dal came to power, the new prime minister, V.P. Singh, appointed Devi Lal as his deputy. But he was soon dismissed. Terms of alliance Since then, the cabinets of P.V. Narasimha Rao, H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral and even Vajpayee's first two cabinets did not appoint a deputy prime minister. But a changed political scenario has necessitated a revival of the office after 12 years. But will Advani now look into the working of the prime minister's office, or will Vajpayee move towards the North Block to work in tandem with the deputy prime minister? Some political analysts feel that Vajpayee's position will not be affected by the new appointment. The prime minister, most feel, will retain the decision-making power. And since it is common knowledge that Vajpayee consults Advani on all important matters of governance, no problem is likely to arise from the arrangement. But history shows that in the past, deputy prime ministers have often been at loggerheads with their prime ministers, particularly in the coalition regimes. Charan Singh was instrumental in toppling the first Janata Dal government in 1979, and Devi Lal played a key role in ousting V.P. Singh in 1990. Even Jawaharlal Nehru and Patel, although from the same party, could not see eye to eye, and Patel had even thought of resigning at one point. Whether Vajpayee and Advani are headed the same way as Nehru and Patel, or whether they will manage to forge a strong alliance in running the country remains to be seen.