Sadashiv Kanoji Patil (abbreviated as S. K. Patil) (1898–1981) was a former Congress leader from

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. A veteran freedom-fighter, he was a qualified journalist, scholar and orator. He was thrice elected mayor of Bombay and was known as "the uncrowned king of Bombay". He supported, assisted and nurtured a number of institutions, particularly in Mumbai and enriched the city culturally.

Early life

He was born in 1898 in the village of Zarap between

Kudal Kudal is a census town in Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra, India. It is situated on River Karli in southwest Maharashtara. Kudal is the fourth largest town in Sindhudurg after Sawantwadi, Malvan and Kankavli. As of 2011, the population is 16,0 ...

and

Sawantwadi Sawantwadi an aesthetic land of artists, is an integral part of the Konkan region which is in the mid-western coast of India. The western coast of India since 1510 A.D. has assumed great importance in Indian history and history of internationa ...

. His father was a police officer in

Kolhapur State Kolhapur State or Kolhapur Kingdom (1710–1949) was a Maratha princely State of India, under the Deccan Division of the Bombay Presidency, and later the Deccan States Agency. It was considered the most important of the Maratha principalities wi ...

. He studied law in Poona, then migrated to Bombay at the age of 23 in 1921 to join the chambers of barrister Velingkar. He started his own law practice in 1929 and practised primarily in the small causes court and the city civil court, and a few civil appeal cases on the appellate side of the Bombay High Court. He was briefed to appear with M.A. Jinnah in a few criminal cases in the early 1930s. By the end of his active practice in the mid 1940s, he came to be known as a forceful pleader in first appeals before the high court. He was frequently briefed to appear before various district courts in Bombay Province.

Career

He was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

when it was part of the unified

Bombay State Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding Sou ...

. He was a union minister during the time of

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

, Lal Bahadur Shashtri and

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

. From 1964 to 1967 he was the union minister for railways. Though a three-time MP, he was defeated by George Fernandes in

Mumbai South (Lok Sabha constituency) Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 48 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies of Maharashtra state in western India. Assembly segments Presently, after the implementation of the Presidential notification on delimitation on 19 ...

in 1967 for

4th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 4th Lok Sabha (4 March 1967 – 27 December 1970), elected February–March 1967. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India.13 sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elected to 4th ...

. He then fought a by-poll from Banaskantha in Gujarat and rejoined Lok Sabha. In 1969, during the split in the Congress party, he along with Morarji Desai and

Nijalingappa Siddavanahalli Nijalingappa (10 December 1902 – 8 August 2000) was an Indian independence activist, Congress Party politician, and lawyer who served two terms as the Chief Minister of Karnataka (then Mysore State) first between 1956 and 195 ...

became the leading lights of the Congress (O) faction. He contested from Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat in 1971 on Congress (O) ticket but lost to the Congress (R) candidate. In the ''

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

'' discussions on the report of the

States Reorganisation Commission The States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) constituted by the Central Government of India in December 1953 to recommend the reorganization of state boundaries. In September 1955, after two years of study, the Commission, comprising Justice Fazal ...

, on 15 November 1955, Patil demanded that the Bombay city be constituted as an autonomous city-state, laying great stress on its cosmopolitan character. However, Bombay state was partitioned into the present day states of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

and

in 1960, and the city of Bombay (now called

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

) became the capital of Maharashtra.

References

External links

S.K. Patil materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patil, S K Marathi politicians Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra Members of the Constituent Assembly of India India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 Indian independence activists from Maharashtra Mayors of Mumbai Indian political journalists 1898 births 1981 deaths Members of the Cabinet of India Railway Ministers of India Indian National Congress (Organisation) politicians 20th-century Indian journalists India MPs 1967–1970 Lok Sabha members from Gujarat Journalists from Maharashtra Politicians from Mumbai Ministers of Power of India