Deputy chief minister, not a new tradition in Rajasthan

JAIPUR: Rajasthan would get a deputy chief minister on December 17, the day when the oath-taking ceremony has been scheduled. This will not be the first time when the state would get a deputy CM. Nor will it be the first time when the chief minister-designate Ashok Gehlot would have a deputy CM.
When Gehlot headed the state government from 1998 to 2003, he had two deputy CMs — Kamla Beniwal and Banwari Lal Bairwa.Unlike Congress state president Sachin Pilot, who would assume the deputy CM’s office from the first day of the Gehlot-led government, Beniwal and Bairwa were appointed to the office at the fag end of the Congress government of 1998-2003.
In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had performed poorly in Rajasthan despite Gehlot heading the state government. The opposition BJP had won 16 seats, while the Congress had to be content with just six seats in the state that elects 25 Lok Sabha MPs. Wary of a similar result in the 2003 state elections, Gehlot reshuffled his cabinet and appointed two deputy CMs months before the polls.
“Gehlot knows that caste plays an important role in Rajasthan politics. Beniwal, a senior Jat leader, and Bairwa, a senior leader from the SC community, were made deputy CMs to achieve a better caste balance in the Congress government, right before the 2003 state polls,” said a Congress veteran. The changes made barely 10 months before the assembly elections did not yield the desired results for the Gehlot government. In the ensuing state polls, not only the Congress, but also the two deputy CMs were defeated and BJP came to power with Vasundhara Raje as the chief minister.
The last Bhairon Singh Shekhawat government in the state from 1993 to 1998, too experimented with the deputy CM theory and met the same fate. BJP insiders recall that an ageing Shekhawat, who had undergone two bypass surgeries and had faced a revolt by his ministers then, was directed by the party central leadership to groom his successor in Rajasthan. Shekhawat picked Hari Shankar Bhabhra and made him the Dy CM. “Shekhawat picking Bhabhra, who was seen as one of the architects of the revolt against him, had surprised BJP leaders. But Bhabhra lost two successive elections after that and many still believe it was Shekhawat’s sweet revenge,” said a BJP office-bearer.
Rajasthan’s first deputy CM was Tikaram Paliwal in 1952. In the state’s first elections held in 1951, CM candidate Jai Narayan Vyas had lost the poll. Paliwal, who had won from Mahuwa (Dausa), was then made the Dy CM. Vyas, however, won a bypoll in 1952 and got the CM’s post while Paliwal was made the Dy CM.