[1] Gaonkar was imprisoned during the British Raj for having participated in the Quit India Movement, and later served as a Deputy Chief Minister in B. G. Kher’s Cabinet of the Composite State of Bombay, India.

After his retirement in the year 1942, S. P. Gaonkar participated in Quit India Movement and joined the Swaraj Party.

In the year 1946–47, B. G. Kher nominated Gaonkar as a Deputy Chief Minister in his Cabinet of the Composite State of Bombay, India.

SAPA was the paternal grandfather of Dilip Gaonkar a professor at Northwestern University.

SAPA was the paternal grandfather of Dilip Gaonkar a professor at Northwestern University.