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Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar (DKS), elected recently as an MLA for the eighth time in Karnataka and in the fight for the post of the Karnataka Chief Minister, is a bold, passionate, skillful strategist known for his assiduous grassroots management and strong financial muscle, as well as his emotional side.
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Hailing from the influential Vokkaliga community and backed by solid financial resources, Shivakumar has made no bones of his aspiration to assume the role of the chief minister. To establish himself as a leader with statewide influence, he extensively travelled throughout Karnataka and orchestrated protests against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since assuming his current position as the Karnataka Congress chief. His strategy to get to the coveted post has been on track.
Shivakumar engaged Naresh Arora of DesignBox to strategize and plan the 2023 assembly polls, while along with his MP brother D K Suresh, meticulously planned and engaged in creating a positive image for the Congress in Karnataka.
Congress sources say the PR team had after several surveys indicated that the Congress would win 140 seats.
Shivakumar’s value in Congress lies in his remarkable talent for resource mobilization within the party, exceptional organizational abilities, and his unwavering loyalty to the party and the Gandhis.
HIS RISE AS TIGER OF SATHANUR
DKS started as a student leader, rose through the ranks, and became a junior minister in the S Bangarappa government in 1990. In 1985, he challenged H.D. Deve Gowda, the Karnataka heavyweight who went to be the prime minister, from Sathanur. Shivakumar lost, but Deve Gowda retained his other seat, Holenarsipura, and the Congress leader won the Sathanur by-election.
He fought Deve Gowda again in 1989 from Kanakapura and lost. Then, in 1994, he was defeated by the leader’s son, HD Kumaraswamy, in Sathanur.
In 1999, Shivakumar was the ‘Man Friday’ for Karnataka Congress chief and Deve Gowda’s arch-rival SM Krishna, who led the Congress back to power.
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Shivakumar used his political acumen to gain control over Bengaluru rural, and then got Kanakapura back from Kumaraswamy in 2004, earning him the title ‘Tiger of Sathanur’.
Shivakumar is feared by political opponents because he never hesitates to use money, power or emotions to win hearts as well as loyalty.
CONGRESS’S LAST ‘RESORT’
This popular Congress trouble-shooter is known for fighting off alleged poaching attempts by the BJP in Maharashtra and Rajasthan and is often the Congress high command’s last “resort”.
In 2002, when Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Congress was facing a no-confidence motion, Shivakumar hosted the entire Congress legislators’ contingent at a resort on Bengaluru’s outskirts. After a week, they were safely shepherded back to Mumbai for the trust vote, which Deshmukh won.
In 2017, when Congress strongman Ahmed Patel fought then BJP chief Amit Shah for a Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat, Shivakumar hosted 44 party MLAs. Patel won his seat, but Shivakumar, by then, had been raided by the Income Tax department.
In May 2018, the incumbent Congress in Karnataka had won 78 of the 224 seats, while the BJP had won 103 MLAs, 10 short of a majority. The Congress feared its MLAs would be poached by the BJP, while it tried to cobble together an alliance with the JDS.
Acting on a call from the party high command in Delhi, Shivakumar herded the legislators to a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Watching over them like a hawk, he took away their communication devices . The resort was located in his MP brother DK Suresh’s constituency.
Even after the Congress and JDS formed a coalition government, in January 2019, three Congress MLAs, Anand Singh of Vijayanagara, Nagendra of Ballari Rural and Ramesh Jarkiholi of Gokak, revolted against the Congress and left for Mumbai. They were later joined by 10 others.
Shivakumar shocked political circles when he was seen standing in front of the Mumbai hotel where the MLAs were staying. The MLAs and their BJP hosts realised the danger of letting him speak to them.
As he argued with the police, Shivakumar told the media in front of the hotel: “I only have a heart that I have come to extend to my friends. I am not a terrorist… I have come to have a cup of tea in the hotel. Even if I were to collapse here without food, I don’t care. There is no question of leaving this place till I meet them.”
THE EMOTIONAL MAN
“D K Shivakumar is an emotional man. When he sheds a tear, it is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of his strength and courage to fight like a tiger,” said a close associate of the Karnataka Congress chief, when News18 asked about his struggle to make it to the top post of the Chief Minister of Karnataka.
It is a known fact that Sonia Gandhi holds a special fondness for Shivakumar and he credited her and called it his “gift to Sonia ji” on the day of the Karnataka results. With tears in his eyes and a quiver in his voice, he spoke of how he cannot forget the day when Sonia Gandhi’s met him at Tihar Jail.
“I assured Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi that I will deliver in Karnataka elections. I cannot forget Sonia Gandhi coming to meet me in jail when the BJP put me there. I rather chose to be in jail than have an office. That is the confidence that the Gandhi family, Congress and the entire country has showed in me,” said Shivakumar, whose voice cracked with emotion and tears rolled out of his eyes.
Another instance of Shivakumar’s emotional connection was when he met with the victims of the Chamarajanagar oxygen shortage that led to the deaths of 24 people in 2021.
“The tears of the people of Chamarajanagar don’t let me sleep at night. I can see their faces each day in front of me. I will ensure justice is served,” said a highly emotional Shivakumar.
THE NUMEROLOGY CONNECT: SIX IS THE CHARM
Shivakumar is a staunch believer in numerology and he favours the number six. This, he says, is the number that is ruled by Venus, which attracts power. Shivakumar had announced that the Congress would win 141 seats, one more than the estimate of his strategy team as the number totaled six! The Congress won 136 seats and those close to Shivakumar said the number six may be his lucky charm.
THE BEARD-O
After spending 50 days in Tihar jail after the Enforcement Directorate arrested him in connection with a Rs 7-crore money-laundering case, DKS had stepped out with a fierce look in his eyes and a beard that he had grown in jail.
“I don’t shed tears. If at all I do, I tear up seeing the love and affection of people. You have seen how people, including my mother and daughter, were harassed, I will not rest till each of them who did this to us because of pure vendetta is brought to book. This beard is a reminder of it,” said a visibly emotional Shivakumar, who teared up during an interview with this reporter in 2020.
He was pointing out to his daughter appearing before the ED, while his mother and wife were issued summons. “They harassed my daughter,” Shivakumar repeated to this reporter, while quietly wiping his tears.
He remained steadfast. Sonia Gandhi demonstrated her empathy by visiting him. Although Shivakumar may not possess the same level of influence over his community, the Vokkaligas, as Siddaramaiah does over the Lingayats, his spirited nature captivates the younger members of the party. Moreover, his adept networking skills have played a pivotal role in keeping the party united.
On one occasion, in an interview with this reporter in 2022, he had said that he will shave off his beard the day he becomes the chief minister of Karnataka.
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Well, the beard remains on his chin as the tug of war between Siddaramaiah and him continues.
“I allowed this beard to grow in Tihar jail. If this beard has to go and I have to have it off, only you the people of Karnataka can give me that salvation,” he had said.
On counting day when the results gave the Congress a thumping victory, Shivakumar trimmed his beard!
“That’s a sign of how happy he was. If the beard has to go, he has to become the CM,” said his associate.
When asked about making it to the CM chair, DKS said: “One man with courage makes a majority, I have proved it…Mahatma Gandhiji has been said to be bold in times of adversity. Even when our MLAs left our party, we lost our party, when the MLAs went out, I did not lose heart…”
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