D K Shivakumar, Congress’s main strategist and troubleshooter, has grabbed headlines again for his shrewd politicking.
By ensuring the victory of Congress candidate V S Ugrappa in Bellary, the controversial leader has yet again saved the day for his party and the coalition government.
Backed by his brother and Congress MP, D K Suresh, Shivakumar has been pulling off swift counter strategies against the BJP, which is desperate to get him out of the way.
Be it managing the Gujarat Congress MLAs in the past or his own MLA colleagues in Karnataka recently, Shivakumar has stayed ahead of the BJP’s game every step of the way, ensuring that the leaders are not poached.
His critical role had, in fact, helped the Congress and the JD(S) form the government earlier this year. Popularly known as the ‘DK brothers of Kanakapura,’ Shivakumar and Suresh have emerged as formidable opponents to the saffron leaders. The duo have literally given nightmares to the BJP.
Two days before the bypoll, the brothers pulled off a swift counter strategy by swaying back BJP’s official candidate from Ramanagar - L Chandrashekar.
Chandrashekar, who ditched the BJP to return to the Congress, also vouched his support to JD(S)’s Anitha Kumaraswamy, leaving saffron leaders shocked.
Also, Shivakumar singlehandedly wrested Bellary from the BJP, which it had held for the last 14 years. The mine-rich district had been the Congress stranglehold between 1951 and 2004.
While Ugrappa’s win has boosted Congress’s confidence, his opponent, J Shantha’s defeat has come as a major face loss for B Sriramulu, the right-hand man of the tainted mining baron Janardhana Reddy.