Somappa Rayappa Bommai (6 June 1924 – 10 October 2007) was an Indian Politician who was the 11th

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 terri ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. 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 and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...

government from 1996 to 1998. He is widely remembered as the champion for the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India, S. R. Bommai v. Union of India. His son

Basavaraj Bommai Basavaraj Somappa Bommai (born 28 January 1960) is an Indian politician and engineer who is the current and 23rd Chief Minister of Karnataka. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the le ...

became the Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2021 making them only the second father and son duo after H. D. Devegowda 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 Shiggaavi 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 earlier in Dharwad distr ...

taluk of the then undivided

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western 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 merge ...

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

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

) 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 is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses are ...

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 Ramakrishna Mahabaleshwar Hegde (29 August 1926 – 12 January 2004) was an Indian politician who served as the tenth Chief Minister of Karnataka for three terms between 1983 and 1988. He was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1 ...

J. H. Patel Jayadevappa Halappa Patel (Kannada:ಜಯದೇವಪ್ಪ ಹಾಲಪ್ಪ ಪಟೇಲ್; 1 October 1930 – 12 December 2000) was the 9th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 31 May 1996 to 7 October 1999. Biography J.H. Patel was born on ...

and

H. D. Deve Gowda Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (; born 18 May 1933 in) is an Indian politician from the state of Karnataka. He served as the 11th prime minister of India from 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997. He was previously the 14th Chief Minister of Karn ...

— was instrumental in the

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

forming a government in the State for the first time in the State in 1983. He was given the weighty portfolio of Industries in the Ramakrishna Hegde government. After Hegde quit on moral grounds, Mr. Bommai took charge as Chief Minister of the State on 13 August 1988 and his government was dismissed by the then Governor, P. Venkatasubbaiah, on 21 April 1989. The dismissal was on the grounds that his government had lost its majority following large-scale defections engineered by several Janata Party leaders of the day. 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 (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...

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

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

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 The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, 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

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 All India Progressive Janata Dal (formerly All India Janata Dal), was a political party in India. AIJD was launched on 11 December 2002, by several leaders of Janata Dal (Secular) and Janata Dal (United) in Karnataka, including the main JD(U) lea ...

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

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 Education Ministers 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