Deeply influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he became the principal organizer of many civil disobedience campaigns, suffering frequent imprisonment by the British. He was elected President of the Indian National Congress in 1931. He played an important role in the negotiations that led to the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. As Deputy Prime Minister (1947–50) he initiated a purge of communists and with the assistance of V. P. Menon, he integrated the Princely States into the Indian Union.