Jatti was born in a Kannada speaking Lingayat family at Savalgi in Jamkhandi Taluk of Bijapur district in present-day Karnataka on 10 September 1912.

As dewan, he maintained cordial relations with the Maharaja, Shankar Rao Patwardhan, and brought about the accession of the small principality to the Indian Union.

After the 1952 general elections, he was appointed Minister of Health and Labour of the then Bombay government and held that post till the reorganization of states.

In 1958, when S. Nijalingappa stepped down as chief minister of the state, Jatti was elected leader of the party in the face of a stiff challenge from Congress veteran T. Subramanya.

[10][11] He however was forced to resign as chief minister since he did not command the support of a majority of elected legislators of the Congress Party and was succeeded by S. R.

[15] On 1 March 1973 the ruling Congress government led by Nandini Satpathy resigned after it lost its majority in the legislative assembly.

Although the leader of the opposition, Biju Patnaik, staked his claim to form the government and demonstrated the support of a majority of legislators, Jatti chose to prorogue the assembly session on the advice of Sathpathy and on 3 March 1973 recommended President’s rule in the state.

[19][20] Following the death in office of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on 11 February 1977, Jatti was sworn in as the acting president of India the same day.

[21][22] Following the defeat of the Indian National Congress in the general elections of 1977, Jatti asked Indira Gandhi to continue as caretaker prime minister and, on the recommendation of the Cabinet, revoked the Emergency on 21 March 1977.