The post of Deputy CM is very important in the coalition government
When a coalition government comes to power in any state, this post becomes very important. If understood in simple language, when two different parties come together and form a government, then the leader of one party is made the chief minister and the leader of the other party is given the post of Deputy CM. This makes it easier to understand who are the most prominent leaders of both the parties and that both the parties are equal partners in the government.
Take bihar for example. Here when JDU and RJD came together, Tejashwi Yadav got the post of deputy chief minister and nitish kumar was the Chief Minister. Similarly, on january 28, 2024, when nitish kumar once again formed the government with bjp, he himself remained on the post of cm and bjp leaders were given the post of Deputy Chief Minister. Like bihar, a similar formula was adopted in Maharashtra. At present, Eknath Shinde from shiv sena is holding the post of Chief Minister. One leader each from bjp and ncp faction is Deputy CM.
Use of position to maintain caste balance
Recently assembly elections were held in Madhya Pradesh, chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. bjp had won in this. Two Deputy Chief Ministers each were made in all three states. Of these two Deputy Chief Ministers in Madhya Pradesh, one is from Brahmin caste and the other is from sc community. Whereas the chief minister himself is from OBC community. Similarly, in Rajasthan, bharatiya janata party gave the post of cm to a Brahmin, while the post of deputy chief minister was given to a Rajput and a Dalit community leader.
In chhattisgarh also, the bharatiya janata party made a leader from the tribal community the chief minister and one leader each from the OBC-Brahmin community was given the post of Deputy Chief Minister. Under this formula, the chief minister in telangana was made from the reddy community and the post of deputy chief minister was given to the sc community.