Which states hold the keys to India's most powerful ministries?

Modi rule 2.0 had quite a few surprises up its sleeves. The all-important Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which comprises the PM himself, and ministers of Home, finance, defence and external affairs, has seen a massive overhaul compared to Narendra Modi's first tenure.

Former defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been allotted the finance ministry, making her the first woman ever to hold the office (since Indira Gandhi held it as additional charge).

Former foreign secretary and a non-political persona, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has been appointed external affairs minister. BJP president Amit Shah has been given the Home ministry, while Rajnath Singh has filled Sitharaman's shoes.

Most former PMs have come from the politically significant and most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. India Today's Data Intelligence Unit (DIU) now analyses which states hold the keys to the crucial CCS ministries.

Since CCS is the most powerful cabinet committee, our analysis is limited to these four ministries only. For the sake of simplicity, we have considered ministers repeating portfolios as a single unit.

Uttar Pradesh: Maximum population, maximum ministers

Not just Prime Ministers, Uttar Pradesh has also proven to be a factory of cabinet ministers. Of the four crucial ministries, UP tops the chart of having the most ministers for Home, defence and external affairs.

UP has given seven home ministers, eight defence ministers and six external affairs ministers - figures far ahead of any other state.

Home ministry

Of the 30 Home ministers of India so far, seven were from UP, six from Maharashtra, and three each from Gujarat, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

Telangana and Madhya Pradesh have given two home ministers each, while Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka and West Bengal have contributed to one home minister each.

Except Indira Gandhi, who headed the Home ministry while being the PM, no other woman has been appointed to this post so far.

Former J&K chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is the only Muslim to hold the Home minister's position (1989-1990).

Defence minister

India has had 29 defence ministers so far, most hailing from UP again. Eight defence ministers have come from UP, while Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu gave four each.

Not just finance, but Nirmala Sitharaman was also the first woman defence minister of India. In 2017, she was appointed defence minister in a cabinet reshuffle.

Ministry of external affairs

A total of 28 people have served as external affairs ministers in India. Here too, UP has made the maximum contribution at six. UP is followed by Punjab (4), Bihar (3), Telangana (2), Maharashtra (2) and Rajasthan (2).

Sushma Swaraj was the first woman external affairs minister in the previous Modi government.

Finance ministry

This is the only major ministry spared by Uttar Pradesh in terms of numbers. Data shows maximum finance ministers have come from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. These states have given India six finance ministers each.

UP comes third with four finance ministers, followed by Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal at two each.

The left outs

DIU has found that states such as Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and the entire Northeast never had a leader handling any of the four crucial ministries.