Somappa Rayappa Bommai (6 June 1924 – 10 October 2007) was an Indian Politician who was the 4th

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. He was also the Human Resource Development Minister in the

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...

government from 1996 to 1998. He is widely remembered as the champion for the landmark judgment of the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

, '' S. R. Bommai v. Union of India''. His son Basavaraj Bommai became the Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2021 making them only the second father and son duo after

H. D. Devegowda Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (; born 18 May 1933) is an Indian politician who served as the prime minister of India from 1996 to 1997. He previously served as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, chief minister of Karnataka from 1994 to 199 ...

and H. D. Kumaraswamy to become the Chief Ministers of Karnataka. __TOC__

Early life and political career

S. R. Bommai was born on 6 June 1924 in a Sadar Lingayat family at Karadagi village of

Shiggaon Shiggaon, also known as Shiggavi is a municipal town in Haveri district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Geography Shiggaon is about 365 km from Bengaluru and 465 km from Pune on the NH-48 (National Highway 4). Shiggaon taluk was ea ...

taluk of the then undivided

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the northwestern part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merged ...

District. He took part in the Quit India movement of 1942. He also played an active role in the unification (''Ekikarana'' in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

) of

which had been spread among Mysore kingdom, Bombay Presidency, Hyderabad, and Madras Presidency, during the British rule. A lawyer by profession, he was elected to the

Karnataka Legislative assembly The Karnataka Legislative Assembly (formerly the Mysore Legislative Assembly) is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature ...

many times from the Hubballi rural constituency and was also a member of the Karnataka Legislative council from 1972 to 1978. He along with Ramakrishna Hegde, J. H. Patel and H. D. Deve Gowda was instrumental in the

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

forming a government in Karnataka for the first time in 1983. He was given the portfolio of Industries in the Ramakrishna Hegde government. After Hegde quit on moral grounds, Bommai took charge as Chief Minister on 13 August 1988 and his government was dismissed by the then Governor, P. Venkatasubbaiah, on 21 April 1989 on the grounds that his government had lost its majority following large-scale defections engineered by several Janata Party leaders. Bommai had sought some time from the Governor to prove his majority on the floor of the Legislature and he was denied this. He challenged this order in the Supreme Court. S. R. Bommai was the president of Karnataka state unit until the state unit got merged with

Janata Dal Janata Dal () was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Na ...

in 1993 before 1994 Karnataka Assembly elections.

''S. R. Bommai v. Union of India'' case

S. R. Bommai v. Union of India was a landmark judgment of the

, where the Court discussed at length, the provisions of Article 356 of the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

and related issues. The apex court spelt out restrictions on the centre's power to dismiss a state government under Article 356. This case had huge impact on Centre-State Relations. Instances of imposition of President's rule have reduced after this judgement. Bommai was National president of the

from 1990 to 1996. He was elected to the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, two times in 1992 and 1998. In 1996, he became the Union minister for Human resource development in the United Front government and served with both the prime ministers H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral. In 1999, after the

split, he sided with the JD(U) faction and later formed the All India Progressive Janata Dal in 2002, as a platform for merger of different factions of Janata Dal. However, after large scale defections, the weakened party was finally merged with JD(U). He died on 10 October 2007, aged 84. His one son, M.S. Bommai is an industrialist in Bengaluru, and the other Basavaraj Bommai inherited his political legacy and went on to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka on 28 July 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bommai, S. R. 1924 births 2007 deaths People from Haveri district Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka Rajya Sabha members from Odisha Leaders of the opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Chief ministers from Janata Party Ministers of education of India Coal ministers of India Members of the Cabinet of India Janata Party politicians Janata Dal (United) politicians Janata Dal politicians Chief ministers of Karnataka