New Delhi: D.K. Shivakumar is not the best orator, or the most charismatic, but the Congress and most political observers have attributed the party’s victory in Karnataka to his astute organisational skills.
This assembly election has also seen his rise as a Vokkaliga leader capable of weaning a large chunk of the community away from the hitherto unquestioned Vokkaliga patron H.D. Deve Gowda, the former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president. 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 Congress’s face could have swung the community towards the Congress.
In 2019, when Shivakumar was in jail in a money laundering case, Sonia Gandhi had gone to meet him. After the Congress’s incredible victory with 135 seats (1 leading) Saturday, he said it was during that visit that he was told he’d be leading the party into this election.
“I can never forget Smt. Sonia Gandhi coming to meet me when these BJP people put me in jail. I chose to be in jail rather than occupy an office. That is the confidence that the Gandhi family, the Congress party, and the entire country bestowed on me,” the state Congress chief said.
Since being appointed Karnataka Congress president in March 2020, Shivakumar kept up the pressure on the outgoing BJP government, be it during Covid, or on issues of price rise and corruption.
“He feels that it is important that the state never feels 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, who wished to not be named. “He is not someone who has to be given responsibility. He takes initiative himself and ensures that it is done in the best possible manner.”
Shivakumar started as a muscle man in Karnataka’s local politics, as a protégé of gangster Kotwal Ramachandra from his student politics days. When he speaks about that time, he often reminds journalists and others that he met them while “serving chai” at Ramachandra’s home. Later, former Karnataka CM and Congress stalwart S.M. Krishna became his political mentor. But it was only recently that Shivakumar’s transformation to an organisation man took place.
“He has moved from brawn to brains,” said a Karnataka Congress leader, laughing.
“He is a grassroots fellow, very grounded and intimately knows the local level worker. He also has deep personal connect with leaders of other parties. He’s steadfast and has not once looked away from the Congress in spite of all the legal pressures being put on him by the BJP,” the leader added.
‘Mass outreach, visible leadership, enthusiastic cadre’
Shivakumar’s approach for the party was based on three broad pillars — mass outreach, visible leadership and an enthusiastic cadre.
Speaking to ThePrint last year, he had emphasised the need for this. “Voter may click a photo with you. They might say that they never see you except when there’s an election. They may shout at you. They may praise you. Anything may happen. But at least like this, the leader and the voter are having a discussion,” he had said.
The main thing is to not get caught up in “tweets and press conferences”, he had further said at the time. “If the leaders stop touring, stop going to the streets, stop taking up ground issues, then both the workers and the people will lose faith.”
This mantra was first displayed organisationally when the Congress held its membership drive in 2022. Karnataka had the highest number of members at 78 lakh and Shivakumar had a big role to play, claim members of his team. “We had a separate app for our digital membership drive, even though AICC (All India Congress Committee) was not happy about it. He (Shivakumar) used to go to bus and train stations himself and conduct the drive,” said a team member.
Congress’ new Vokkaliga face?
A look at the vote share percentages make it clear that the Congress has gained from the JD(S)’s loss. While the Congress vote share went up to 43.1 per cent from 38.61 per cent, the JD(S) vote share went down to 13.3 per cent from 20.61 per cent.
The JD(S) vote, mostly centred around its stronghold of the Old Mysuru region, came from the Vokkaligas, who rallied around former PM and party stalwart Deve Gowda.
This vote has now shifted to the Congress and Shivakumar may have been a factor.
Shivakumar’s strategist Naresh Arora, founder of political consultancy firm DesignBoxed — roped in by the Congress leader to help his campaign — says that there was no concerted strategy to project him as the Vokkaliga face of the party. Rather, the effort was to win over the youth within the community.
“Vokkaliga leadership in Karnataka has been Mr Deve Gowda unquestionably since the time he was prime minister. Vokkaliga votes are also not spread as evenly. That puts the leader coming from that community in a disadvantageous situation. There were a lot of caste movements in Karnataka over the last two years, but Mr Shivakumar did not participate in the Vokkaliga reservation movement either. But the kind of human being he is has had an effect,” said Arora to ThePrint.
“In the Vokkaliga community, the youth in that community are quite impressed with Mr. Shivakumar’s way of being. He’s a go-getter, he’s a show man, and they see a future in him,” he added.
The last Vokkaliga face the Congress had in Karnataka was Shivakumar’s mentor S.M. Krishna. Since then, the void of a Vokkaliga face has remained in the party. Shivakumar might just be filling the gap.
Fund factor
Congress leaders in Karnataka also point to another important factor that has helped Shivakumar run the state organisation effectively — funding welfare.
In his 2023 election affidavit, Shivakumar declared family wealth of over Rs 1,400 crore.
When Covid hit and it was unclear whether the central government would be purchasing vaccines, Shivakumar had announced that the Congress would be purchasing vaccines for the entire state and asked the state government for permission.
In May 2020, Shivakumar and former state president Dinesh Gundu Rao paid Rs 1 crore each from their personal funds to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to facilitate free transport for migrants. This forced the then B. S. Yediyurappa government to announce free transport for migrants who wanted to return to their native places.
In April 2020, Karnataka Congress leaders, on the direction of Shivakumar, reportedly procured vegetables from farmers who were on the verge of wasting their produce. They then sold the same vegetables at subsidised rates to those in need.
“He stuck to state politics. He did not interfere much with what the AICC was doing and generally went along with what was told or asked. He allowed it to be a team effort and not a D.K. Shivakumar show,” said an AICC functionary working in Karnataka.
‘Professional approach’
Ahead of the elections, Shivakumar roped in political consultancy firm DesignBoxed to help with his campaign despite the fact that Sunil Kanugolu had been tasked with formulating an election strategy for the AICC.
The idea was to bring a more “professional approach” to the state unit, Shivakumar had said to ThePrint last year.
Apart from handling communications for Shivakumar, DesignBoxed also helped streamline organisational responsibilities. Like a corporate entity, workers were given specific targets to achieve within a set period of time and the report of the same was shared with the party president. Good workers were felicitated and the state cadre was told that this work would reflect in the ticket distribution.
It was also Shivakumar’s idea to ask Congress leaders to “apply” for tickets for the election.
‘Heart-to-heart’ with Siddaramaiah
The decision to invite applications for tickets came after a disagreement between Shivakumar and former CM Siddaramaiah, who is the Congress’s most significant mass leader in Karnataka, and also served as the leader of the Congress legislative party in the previous assembly. It was reported that Siddaramaiah was campaigning for the candidates he wanted to give tickets to, and Shivakumar had put a spanner in the works.
But, as the weeks passed, both Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah decided to put up a united front for the assembly elections.
In a video of a ‘heart-to-heart’ conversation between the two released by the Congress before elections, Shivakumar can be seen referring to his apparent adversary within the party as ‘Sir’.
“It does nothing for Shivakumar’s image but he was very enthusiastic about doing the video. He had a simple diktat for us — the party will have to come before D.K. Shivakumar,” said a member of DesignBoxed, which produced the video.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)