MPPSC 2021 Prelims Paper-I · Question 52 of 100

Correct — B, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. In the Interim Government formed in September 1946 (with Jawaharlal Nehru as Vice-President of the Executive Council), Patel was allotted the Home Affairs and States portfolio — the 'princely' department responsible for negotiating the integration of India's princely states into the Indian Union.

• (a)V. P. Menon — Patel's key civil servant — Secretary of the States Department, who drafted the Instrument of Accession — but he was Patel's administrator, not the Cabinet minister holding the portfolio.
• (c)Krishnashahi — Not a recognised member of the 1946 Interim Government's Cabinet holding this portfolio.
• (d)C. Rajagopalachari — A senior Congress leader active in this period (later Governor-General of India in 1948), but he did not hold the States portfolio.

The Interim Government (September 1946 - August 1947), formed under the Cabinet Mission Plan, was the transitional Council of Ministers that ran India before independence, with Nehru as Vice-President of the Executive Council. Sardar Patel held Home Affairs and States, making him the point person for integrating princely states into the Union — a task he carried out, with V. P. Menon as his Secretary, mainly through 1947-48 via the Instrument of Accession.

MPPSC/UPSC repeatedly test 'who held which portfolio' in the Interim Government — lock the leader-to-department pairing rather than just recognising the names.

• Interim Government formed September 1946 under the Cabinet Mission Plan
• Jawaharlal Nehru: Vice-President of the Executive Council
• Sardar Patel: Home Affairs and States (princely-state integration)
• V. P. Menon: Secretary, States Department — Patel's chief administrator, not a Cabinet minister

• Mixing up Patel's portfolio with Nehru's (external affairs) or Rajendra Prasad's (food and agriculture)
• Treating V. P. Menon as the Cabinet minister rather than Patel's secretary

Direct portfolio-recall questions on 1946 Interim Government members are a recurring MPPSC/UPSC pattern.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who was the Vice-President of the Executive Council in the Interim Government formed in 1946?

  • (a)Jawaharlal Nehru
  • (b)Rajendra Prasad
  • (c)Vallabhbhai Patel
  • (d)C. Rajagopalachari

  Answer(a) Jawaharlal Nehru.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  V. P. Menon, who assisted Sardar Patel in integrating the princely states, held which position?

  • (a)Secretary, States Department
  • (b)Governor-General of India
  • (c)Prime Minister of a princely state
  • (d)Viceroy's private secretary

  Answer(a) Secretary, States Department.