Who is D K Shivakumar, Congress’ Man Friday?
2 min read
Bengaluru: The man behind leading the Congress’ triumphant win over BJP in Karnataka and the party’s Man Friday Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar or popularly known as DK Shivakumar is the new deputy chief minister-designate.
While Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga, has been with the Congress since his college days and has handled many portfolios, his journey to be designated as deputy chief minister is quite an eventful one.
He enrolled himself to NSUI, the students’ wing of Congress when he was around 18. He was elected as the Youth Congress’ State unit general secretary while he was still studying in R C College, Bengaluru.
He unsuccessfully contested against Deve Gowda in Sathanur in 1985 but he made headlines for giving a tough fight to Deve Gowda. Later, he was elected as a member to Bengaluru Rural ZP from Sathanur in 1987. He entered Vidhana Soudha after winning on a Congress ticket from Sathanur in 1989.
It is said that Shivakumar played a key role in electing Bangarappa as the then chief minister in 1991 when then chief minister Veerendra Patil had to quit due to health reasons. In return, Bangarappa made him the minister of prisons and homeguards when he was just 27-year-old!.
However, he rebelled against the Congress after being denied of ticket in 1994 and won as a rebel candidate. He worked in the then S M Krishna government and handled Co-operation, Urban Development and City Planning portfolios from 1999-2002.
It is no secret that Shivakumar considers former chief minister S M Krishna as his mentor as the former chief minister played a key role in his political career. Shivakumar’s eldest daughter is married to Krishna’s grandson Amartya.
Although he won again from Sathanur in 2004, the Congress did not get the majority. He won again in 2008 but the BJP was in power in the State. When the Congress returned to the power in 2013, Shivakumar handled energy department in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet. He handled Water Resources Department during the coalition government in 2018. But the government collapsed and BJP came to power.
In fact, whenever, the party was in crisis, he has always played a key role to ease out the party’s tension. How he famously rescued the Congress MLAs of Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh in Bengaluru during the trust vote is still green in the minds of people. He is also credited for bringing legislators together to form the Coalition government in Karnataka.
Now, Shivakumar is credited with bringing the Congress back to the power in Karnataka in 2023, when the party was almost written off.
Interestingly, he has never lost since his debut in 1989. While he represented Sathanur from 1989 to 2004, he now represents Kanakapura, his home turf.
-Team Mysoorunews
Mysooru News
