It is known that many Chief Ministers in India, even if they belong to different political parties and faiths, honor themselves with maximum portfolios in their state, in particular, with the Home Department being their common favourite.
Be it Yogi Adityanath of the BJP, Pinarayi Vijayan of the CPM or Bhagwant Mann of the AAP, while they can often be seen at loggerheads politically, one thing that is common in many departments under him.
Adityanath, who was sworn in as Uttar Pradesh chief minister for a second term last month, holds 34 portfolios, while his Kerala and Punjab counterparts, Pinarayi Vijayan and Bhagwant Mann, have 27 portfolios each.
Similar situation is in the case of Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami- 23 departments-, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren- 19 departments-, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar- 16 departments-, Rajasthan’s Ashok Gehlot- 10 departments.
Interestingly, except Khattar, all the above Chief Ministers have kept the Home Department under their control.
So, why does the Chief Minister prefer to keep the largest share of portfolios for himself when he already has many other things to look after the functioning of his states?
To begin with, the reason why the vital Home Department is a hot favorite, so much so that it currently handles 17 chief ministers, is straight forward: it gives them direct control over the state police.
However, in the opinion of former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, this tendency of chief ministers to give themselves maximum portfolios reflects “insecurity and desire to control”. impression,
“The chief minister holding maximum portfolios shows insecurity and desire to control,” Chavan said.
“Some CMs prefer to have 30-40 portfolios and hardly share any power with the cabinet. These are dictatorial personalities who want to take control of the herd. Even Mr (Narendra) Modi’s government in Gujarat was the same. He worked with several ministers of state and kept most of the portfolios with him.”
Chavan said there is also the idea that no one can do justice to so many departments, it is just a way of “depriving other colleagues the opportunity to grow”.
On the other hand, a retired IAS officer, who is a former Chief Secretary, had a different opinion to share. Whatever is important in a particular state, the Chief Minister would generally like to keep with them, he said.
“For example, industry is an important department in Gujarat, but not so much in Uttar Pradesh. Finance is not a desirable portfolio due to the technicalities involved. It is mostly an act of reallocation and distribution,” the official said.
Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, K Chandrashekhar Rao of Telangana and Pema Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh are some of them.
Some civil servants said that factors such as the size of a state, the compulsion of coalition politics, practical reasons, and the sensitivity of the department under consideration also matter when it comes to portfolio allocation.
“The number of portfolios a chief minister holds depends on various factors including political background and the type of cabinet ministers a CM holds. It is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,” said a second retired civil servant.
read all Breaking News , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.