New Delhi: DK Shivakumar is not the best orator or the most charismatic, but the Congress and most political observers attribute the party’s victory in Karnataka to his astute organizational skills.
This assembly election has also seen his rise as a Vokkaliga leader, able to wean away a large section of the community from Vokkaliga patriarch HD Deve Gowda, former prime minister and president of the Janata Dal (Secular). In this election, the Congress won 44 of the 73 seats in 11 districts of southern Karnataka, known as ‘Gowda land’. The JD(S) could win only 15 seats in the region, indicating that Shivakumar, as the face of the Congress, could sway the community towards the Congress.
In 2019, when Shivakumar was in jail in a money laundering case, Sonia Gandhi went to meet him. After the incredible victory of the Congress on Saturday with 135 seats (leading 1), he said that during that visit he was told that he would lead the party in this election.
“I can never forget Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was coming to meet me when BJP people put me in jail. I chose to be in jail rather than occupy an office. This is the faith that the Gandhi family, the Congress party and the entire country have reposed in me.
Since being appointed Karnataka Congress President in March 2020, Shivakumar has kept the pressure on the outgoing BJP government, be it during Covid, or on issues of price rise and corruption.
“He feels it is important that the state should never feel that there is no opposition. He always says that sustained opposition is the key to winning a state,” said a member of Shivakumar’s team on condition of anonymity. “He is not someone who should be given responsibility. He himself takes the initiative and makes sure it is done in the best possible way.”
Shivakumar started off as a muscleman in Karnataka’s local politics, from his student politics days as a protégé of gangster Kotwal Ramachandra. When he talks about that time, he often reminds reporters and others that they met him while “serving tea” at Ramachandra’s house. Later former Karnataka CM and veteran Congress leader SM Krishna became his political mentor. But it was only recently that Shivakumar was transformed into an organization man.
A Karnataka Congress leader laughed and said, “He is brainwashed by the controversy.”
“He is a grassroots fellow, very connected to the ground and knows the local level worker very well. He also has close personal relations with the leaders of other parties. He is firm and despite all the legal pressure being put on him by the BJP, he has not turned his back on the Congress even once.
‘Mass Outreach, Direct Leadership, Enthusiastic Cadre’
Shivakumar’s vision for the party was based on three broad pillars – mass outreach, visible leadership and an enthusiastic cadre.
Speaking to ThePrint last year, he stressed the need for this. “The voter can click a photo with you. They may say that they never see you except for elections. They may yell at you. They can compliment you. Anything can happen. But at least the leader and the voter are being discussed like this. Said,
The main thing is not to get caught up in “tweets and press conferences”, he further said at the time. “If leaders stop touring, stop hitting the streets, stop raising issues on the ground, then both workers and people will lose faith.”
This mantra was first displayed organizationally when the Congress launched its membership drive in 2022. Karnataka had the highest number of 78 lakh members and Shivakumar had a big role, his team members claim. “We had a separate app for our digital membership drive, even though the AICC (All India Congress Committee) was not happy with it. He (Shivakumar) used to go and drive himself to bus and train stations,” said a team member.
New Vokkaliga face of Congress?
A look at the vote share percentage makes it clear that the Congress has gained from the loss of the JD(S). While the vote share of the Congress increased from 38.61 per cent to 43.1 per cent, the vote share of the JD(S) declined from 20.61 per cent to 13.3 per cent.
The JD(S) vote, mostly concentrated around its stronghold of the old Mysore region, came from the Vokkaligas, which rallied around former PM and party stalwart Deve Gowda.
This vote has now shifted to the Congress and Shivakumar could be a factor.
Shivakumar’s strategist Naresh Arora is the founder of political advisory firm Designboxing , Planted by Congress leader to help his campaign , He says there was no concrete strategy to project him as the Vokkaliga face of the party. Rather, there was an effort to win over the youth within the community.
“The Vokkaliga leadership in Karnataka has unquestionably been Mr. Deve Gowda ever since he was the Prime Minister. The Vokkaliga votes are also not spread evenly. This puts the leader coming from that community at a disadvantageous position. Several caste agitations took place in Karnataka in the last two years, but Mr. Shivakumar did not even participate in the Vokkaliga quota agitation. But the kind of human being he is, it has had an impact,” Arora told ThePrint.
“In the Vokkaliga community, the youth of that community are greatly influenced by the way Mr. Sivakumar is. He’s a go-getter, he’s a show man, and they see a future in him,” he said.
The last Vokkaliga face of the Congress in Karnataka was Shivakumar’s mentor SM Krishna. Since then there has been a dearth of a Vokkaliga face in the party. Shivakumar is probably filling this gap.
fund factor
Congress leaders in Karnataka also point to another important factor that has helped Shivakumar effectively run the state organization – welfare funding.
In his 2023 election affidavit, Shivakumar declared family assets worth over Rs 1,400 crore.
When the Covid outbreak happened and it was not clear whether the central government would buy the vaccines or not, Shivakumar had announced that the Congress would buy the vaccines for the entire state and sought permission from the state government.
In May 2020, Shivakumar and former state president Dinesh Gundu Rao paid Rs 1 crore from their personal funds to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to facilitate free transport for migrants. This forced the then BS Yediyurappa government to announce free transport for migrants who wanted to return to their native places.
In April 2020, on the instructions of Shivakumar, Karnataka Congress leaders allegedly bought vegetables from farmers who were on the verge of wasting their produce. After this he sold the same vegetables to the needy people at subsidized rates.
“He remained associated with state politics. They did not interfere much in what the AICC was doing and generally went along with what was said or asked. They let it happen as a team effort and not for DK Shivakumar’s show,” said an AICC functionary working in Karnataka.
‘Professional approach’
Prior to the elections, Shivakumar engaged political consulting firm Designboxed to help with his campaign, despite the fact that Sunil Kanungolu was tasked with formulating an election strategy for the AICC.
Shivakumar told ThePrint last year that the idea was to bring a more “professional approach” to the state unit.
In addition to handling communications for Shivakumar, DesignBoxed also helped streamline organizational responsibilities. Like a corporate body, the workers were given specific targets to achieve within a specified time period and reports of the same were shared with the party president. Good workers were felicitated and the state cadre was told that this work would be reflected in ticket distribution.
It was also Shivakumar’s idea to ask Congress leaders to “apply” for tickets for the elections.
‘Dil Se Dil’ with Siddaramaiah
The decision to invite applications for the ticket came after a rift between Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is the most important mass leader of the Congress in Karnataka, and also served as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the previous Assembly. It was reported that Siddaramaiah was campaigning for the candidates he wanted to give tickets to, and that Shivakumar had obstructed the work.
But, as the weeks passed, both Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah decided to form a united front for the assembly elections.
In a video of a ‘dil se dil ki’ conversation between the two released by the Congress ahead of the elections, Shivakumar can be seen calling his apparent adversary within the party as ‘sir’.
“It does nothing for Shivakumar’s image but he was very excited to do the video. He had a simple diktat for us – the party has to come before DK Shivakumar,” said a member of Designboxed, who made the video .
(Editing by Zinnia Ray Chowdhury)