DK ‘The Rock’ Shivakumar, the Congress Man Friday

Congress on Thursday early morning finalised Siddaramaiah to be the next CM of Karnataka while DKS will become the Deputy CM

"I believe in one thing,” DK Shivakumar said. “A single man with courage makes a majority."

This was Shivakumar, 61, projecting himself as the ‘lone wolf’ who steered Congress to a big victory in Karnataka and making a case for him to become the chief minister.

After four days of intense wrangling, however, Congress on Thursday early morning finalised Siddaramaiah to be the next Chief Minister of Karnataka while D K Shivakumar will become the Deputy Chief Minister.

Also Read — Siddaramaiah is next Karnataka CM, D K Shivakumar to be his deputy; oath on May 20

After the Congress’s victory, a teary-eyed Shivakumar said he had delivered on the promise he made to Sonia Gandhi. The Congress is his "temple", he has repeatedly said, underlining his loyalty.

The eight-time legislator from Kanakapura, has earned himself the moniker ‘Bande’ (Rock), referring to never-say-die attitude in foraying into political challenges.

Starting as a student leader in the 1980s, he was able to make headway into the Congress after Devaraj Urs and his followers walked out of the party in 1979. Shivakumar contested his first election as a 23-year-old in 1985 from the erstwhile Sathanur constituency against H D Deve Gowda and lost.

He won his first Assembly election in 1989.

In 1999, Shivakumar defeated H D Kumaraswamy, again from Sathanur.

Over the years, he has grown to be a trusted lieutenant of the Gandhi family, making him the Congress’s Man Friday.

In 2019, Shivakumar was lodged in the Tihar jail for 50 days in connection with a money laundering case. Sonia Gandhi visited him in jail, reassuring that the party stood by him, something that Shivakumar recalls to this day with gratitude.

Also Read — Siddaramaiah, the Congress’s southern satrap

Shivakumar rose in the ranks in Congress by establishing himself as a troubleshooter. In 2002, the then Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh sought the help of the then Karnataka CM SM Krishna to safeguard his MLAs, in fear of them being poached. At that time, it was Shivakumar who came to the rescue and held the MLAs in a resort in Bidadi. Similarly, in 2017, he safeguarded 44 Gujarat MLAs and for a third time, he pulled off safeguarding legislators for the Congress-JD(S) coalition after the 2018 Assembly polls.

While Siddaramaiah has risen to fame in Congress as the "mass leader", Shivakumar's USP is of him being a master strategist.

While outside the party, he has taken on the Vokkaliga giants such as H D Kumaraswamy and H D Devegowda, within the party, he has been up against Siddaramaiah. The two leaders have locked horns on several occasions. In 2013, when Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister, he refused to induct Shivakumar in the Cabinet on the grounds that he had corruption charges against him. Siddaramaiah relented only after intervention from the Congress high command.

Nonetheless, Shivakumar has been able to stand his ground. In 2020, he was appointed as the Karnataka Congress president, a task he has carried out ruthlessly.

By helping the Congress win several seats in the Vokkaliga-dominant Old Mysore region in the 2023 polls, Shivakumar has established himself as an alternative to the Deve Gowda clan, who have been the undisputed Vokkaliga leaders thus far. As a testimony to his influence, Vokkaliga seers, headed by Nirmalanandanatha Swamy of the Adichunchanagiri Mutt recently, openly demanded that Shivakumar be made the CM.

A postgraduate in political science, Shivakumar chairs the National Education Foundation and the DKS Charitable Institute Trust that run several educational institutions. Deeply religious and spiritual, Shivakumar has often credited Ajjayya as his source of strength.