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DK Shivakumar has just become the new Chief Minister of Karnataka, and the Congress party is getting ready to steer its way to the 2028 Assembly elections with its long-time crisis manager at the helm.
Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar or DKShi, as he is casually referred to, is an eight-time MLA and has spent over four decades in politics and with a single party—the Congress. (He is often referred to as bande by his detractors, but that is later in the story). Over the years, he has earned many sobriquets – the ‘crisis man’, the ‘troubleshooter’ or the ‘man for all seasons', as the party used him several times to get itself out of a sticky wicket.
Born on May 15, 1962, in Doddalahalli village of Kanakapura taluk to Kempegowda and Gowramma, Shivakumar was interested in politics from an early age. Shivakumar has earlier mentioned that he decided to become a politician when he was in Class 5, and by Class 7, he was enamoured with politics. He was sent out of NPS School in Rajajinagar in Class 5 as he was found to be too mischievous. At the same time, Shivakumar attended a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakha in Rajajinagar, which may have laid the foundation for what many call his ‘soft Hindutva’ approach.
He joined the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) – the student wing of the Indian National Congress – at the age of 18 and became Bengaluru District NSUI president between 1981 and 1983 before becoming general secretary of the Karnataka Youth Congress.
His first foray into electoral politics came in 1985 when he contested against HD Deve Gowda in Sathnur. By then, Deve Gowda had already established his supremacy among the Vokkaligas, a community that DK Shivakumar also belongs to. It was the nascent beginning of a fight for domination in the community, a fight that is alive even today. Shivakumar lost the election but did not perform too badly either.
In 1989, he contested again and won, breaking the Janata Dal’s dominance in the region. In 1991, after Chief Minister Veerendra Patil stepped down due to ill health, Shivakumar was credited within Congress circles with helping consolidate support for S Bangarappa’s elevation as Chief Minister. Bangarappa later inducted him into the state cabinet and assigned him the Prisons portfolio, making him one of Karnataka’s youngest ministers at the age of 30. Shivakumar recalled that time in an interview. “When Bangarappa was making a portfolio for his cabinet, he made me write a list. He told me, "DK, I was Jail Minister and became a CM now. You should also become CM. Take this (Jail) portfolio."
Despite internal opposition within the Congress, Shivakumar retained his political standing through the 1990s. In 1994, after being denied a Congress ticket, he contested as a rebel candidate – his one moment of rebellion – and won. In the 1999 Assembly elections, the Congress won 139 seats and formed the government independently. Shivakumar defeated HD Kumaraswamy in the election and was appointed Cooperation Minister.
Under Chief Minister SM Krishna, Shivakumar earned his moniker as the ‘troubleshooter’. In 2002, the Congress-NCP government led by Vilasrao Deshmukh in Maharashtra was in a crisis. Fearful of the government’s collapse due to dissidence and facing a no-confidence motion, they sought the help of the neighbouring Congress government in Karnataka.
In a television interview on Weekend with Ramesh, Shivakumar recalled the episode.
“I got a call from Delhi saying this was happening in Maharashtra. SM Krishna (who was the chief minister) was asleep. They tried contacting him but couldn't reach him, so they reached out to me, saying, 'The MLAs are in Indore; we want them in Karnataka. You take care of things, DK. You have to help your friend.’ Before Krishna woke up, I had created an entire plan.”
Shivakumar shepherded the MLAs from Indore and sequestered them at Bengaluru’s Eagleton Resort and escorted them to Mumbai ahead of the trust vote, helping the Deshmukh government survive.
In the 2002 Lok Sabha bye-poll, he once again lost to HD Deve Gowda in Kanakapura constituency. By then, the tussle with the Deve Gowda family was well-established and had become a defining feature of politics in the Old Mysuru region. The feud played on as two years later, he backed Tejaswini Ramesh, a journalist-turned-politician, against Deve Gowda in Kanakapura. Tejaswini won the election by a large margin, earning the reputation of a ‘giant killer’, while Shivakumar was credited within Congress circles for backing her candidature.
In 2004, Shivakumar was kept out of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition as Deve Gowda objected to his inclusion in the cabinet. Even as late as 2024, Shivakumar was credited with helping wrest the Hassan parliamentary seat away from JD(S) when Congress candidate Shreyas Patel defeated Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of Deve Gowda. The JD(S) had held onto the seat from 2004. Further acrimony was directed at Shivakumar by the Deve Gowda family, who held him responsible for engineering the complaints against Prajwal Revanna, who was accused of sexually exploiting several women and was jailed.
While acknowledging the rivalry between the two families, Shivakumar has maintained that his problems with the Gowda family are personal and he does not let it interfere with what his party commands.
In 2013, Congress came back to power, but Shivakumar had to wait several months to be inducted into the cabinet as Siddaramaiah wanted to keep a clean image. By then, Shivakumar was facing several charges of corruption, including that of illegal mining. He was later given the Energy portfolio.
Shivakumar’s role as the Congress party’s political troubleshooter expanded in 2017, when 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs were moved to a Bengaluru resort ahead of the Rajya Sabha election involving senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel. Shivakumar was tasked with ensuring that the MLAs were not poached by the BJP. Income Tax raids were conducted at properties linked to him on the same day the Gujarat legislators arrived in Karnataka.
In 2018, he once again ferried MLAs to resorts in Hyderabad and ensured that the Congress-JD(S) combine remained intact during the BJP’s attempts to form the government. BS Yediyurappa eventually resigned ahead of the floor test after serving as Chief Minister for just over two days.
In 2019, Shivakumar again found himself at the centre of a political crisis after Congress and JD(S) MLAs rebelled against the coalition government. He travelled to Mumbai in an attempt to persuade rebel legislators to return to Bengaluru, but the coalition government eventually collapsed.
When Yediyurappa won the trust vote later and became the CM for the third time, Shivakumar, in a media interview, shrugged and said, “Politics is the art of possibility. Anything can happen. Nothing is permanent.”
His legal troubles began in 2018 with scrutiny from central agencies. Enforcement Directorate cases against Shivakumar increased, and he spent 50 days in jail in connection with a money laundering case. The Congress described the investigations as politically motivated. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi personally visited him in Tihar Jail.
On March 11, 2020, Sonia Gandhi appointed Shivakumar president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). In 2023, the Congress returned to power in Karnataka in 2023 with 136 Assembly seats, after which Shivakumar became Deputy Chief Minister while also retaining influence over the party organisation in the state. He was assigned the Water Resources and Bengaluru Development portfolios.
As Bengaluru Development Minister, he launched the “Brand Bengaluru” initiative, proposing many ambitious projects, including the controversial tunnel road and the Sky Deck project. Despite public opposition to the tunnel road project, Shivakumar has gone ahead full steam.
Shivakumar continues to draw support from the Kanakapura-Ramanagara region, and many of his political supporters, like Iqbal Hussain and HC Balakrishna, represent constituencies here. Shivakumar’s brother, DK Suresh, a former MP from Bengaluru rural, has been his ardent supporter and continues to back his efforts on the political and business front. One of Shivakumar’s most famous quotes, “By birth, I am an agriculturist. By profession, I am a businessman. By choice, I am an educationist. By passion, I am a politician,” holds very true even today.
In the Kanakapura region, Shivakumar and Suresh have such a close ear to the ground that it is said not a single piece of land can be sold without their knowledge. In fact, they have been known to advise people when to sell their lands to get a good deal, as prices have been escalating due to the bevy of road widening projects that have been undertaken.
The brothers have also been long accused by the JD(S) of illegal quarrying and mining and destroying natural resources in the region—the real reason the moniker 'bande' (meaning rock) was originally used on Shivakumar. His supporters have since put a positive spin on it and now portray him as someone solid and reliable.
He also runs the National Education Foundation, which runs engineering, nursing, management institutions, and schools. His daughter Aishwarya now handles the day-to-day running of the foundation.
Shivakumar has also remained one of Karnataka’s wealthiest politicians and now possibly the richest CM. In 2023, his declared assets, according to the Association of Democratic Reforms, was Rs 1,413 crore. Clad in a white kurta set usually, his penchant for luxury is reflected in the designer scarves he wears to add a splash of colour, usually Prada, Ferragamo, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, etc., and his Cartier and Rolex watches.
He is also known for his deep religiosity and is said to be a devout practising Hindu. The Kabbalamma temple near Kanakapura is a family deity and a temple Shivakumar visits frequently. While he has invited several religious heads of all religions for his swearing-in, he has a great proximity to Kadasiddeshwara Mutt in Nonavinakere and Adichunchanagiri Mutt.
His long-standing association with his astrologer, Dwarkanath is also well-known. In an interview, he had said, “Astrologer Dwarakanath is a very important man in my life. He was the one who told me that I would become a minister at a young age. He also gave me the date when I will become CM.”
Shivakumar has always been chased by reporters, especially in the last three years, constantly being asked when he is going to get his due. While Shivakumar refused to fall for the trap, an answer could be found in his old statement to the media. “Politics is not a game of football; it is a game of chess, and I know how to play chess very well.”
Shivakumar is married to Usha and they have three children — Aishwarya, Aabharana, and Aakash.