Why DK Shivakumar’s rise is Rahul Gandhi’s biggest bet yet? Rasheed Kidwai explains Karnataka change

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome to The Print as D.K.

[00:00:03]Shivakumar gets ready for a new assignment. A biography of the Congress leader by senior journalist Rashid Kidwai titled Congress's crisis manager, Karnataka's kingmaker is scheduled to be released in July. Well, perfect timing, Mr. Kidwai. We saw what finally happened. You know, Congress many uh many people are saying has finally acted and with Siddaramaiah's resignation D.K.

[00:00:29]will finally become the chief minister.

[00:00:32]Uh how do you see all this?

[00:00:34]>> Well, first of all, as far as my book is concerned, it is purely coincidental.

[00:00:37]These are all political factors that have come into play. But, you know, I need I started writing I have written several books about 11 of them so far and this mostly about political personalities because I think political biographies need to be written about uh living persons. And it is a bit of a challenging job because uh you know, living it's work in progress and there is a shifting narrative. There is a problem of access, then deliberate difficult to get personal to uh you know, information, things which are private or dealing with privacy. So, there are insurmountable challenges. And then, whole issue is what is independent biography. So, I have written Sonia Gandhi's independent biography. I have written a book called House of Scindias. So, I am well versed with this kind of challenges that are there. I find actually D.K.

[00:01:27]Shivakumar as a very fascinating personality. Uh Neelam, very quickly I just want to tell you since 2014, there have been over 150 Congress leaders of some consequence who have left the party in periodic in the same 10 days, 15 days. Every time there is election, some people leave the Congress.

[00:01:48]And generally, it is sort of vote of no confidence against Rahul Gandhi, against Gandhis, against the Congress leadership. Here, we have D.K.

[00:01:57]Shivakumar who brings a vote of confidence. It's a story of loyalty and gratitude and someone being rewarded.

[00:02:05]So, if you look at the people who left the Congress, you have one chief minister, a successful chief minister of the BJP called Himanta Biswa Sarma, and now you have a counter argument in D.K. Shivakumar that if he's still loyal, then you know, "Apna time aayega." You know, you'll get your time.

[00:02:25]>> Right. Like you know, many are also talking about the fact and have been drawing parallels with Rajasthan that you know, Karnataka was in a way heading towards Rajasthan way and you know, somehow it has been averted and many are talking about these are the decision that the high command has finally taken. So, a bit of a learning as far as the high command is concerned. They are also talking about the Kerala Chief Minister, how you know, they took that decision aligning with T.V.K. So, how How do you see that you know, one after another these decisions?

[00:02:59]>> So, you raised lot of issues. Let me address one by one. One is about you know, the Congress high command. So, what happened in the Chief Minister selection in Kerala, the Congress leadership particularly Rahul Gandhi did not come out well. There is a perception that he wanted K.C. Venugopal and he ended up accepting V. D. Satheesan who was well grounded, who was the man on the ground, and you know, the UDF allies forced Rahul Gandhi's hands. So, this time around Rahul Gandhi was very sort of proactive and he restored the kind of dignity of the Congress high command.

[00:03:36]Let me very briefly tell you what had happened. So, in May 2023, when the results came out, you know, there were two contenders. One was D.K. Shivakumar, other was Siddaramaiah, and there was a rotational thing. It was denied by all quarters, but we as reporters and journalists knew that this is what had happened. The meeting had taken place in Mr. Kharge's house. A telephone call was made to Rahul Gandhi saying that it would be a rotational chief minister. Now, cut to uh November 23rd, 2025, when 2 and 1/2 years were over, you know, Siddaramaiah would not resign.

[00:04:10]And again, sometime only December, everyone rushed to Delhi. And Rahul Gandhi at that point of time had a one-on-one chat with uh Siddaramaiah.

[00:04:19]And that tells you about Rahul Gandhi as a politician. And Siddaramaiah said that he wants to continue as chief minister till March 2026 because he wants to break the record of uh Devaraj Urs as the longest-serving chief minister of Karnataka. Rahul Gandhi Look at Rahul Gandhi's magnanimity. He says, "Oh, no, no. Not March. You continue till May."

[00:04:41]So, it's a story of loyalty and gratitude. And then what happens in May, when everything gets settled, then Rahul Gandhi summons him and talks to him that This is what you had said in March. Now it's May. So, can I Will you And Siddaramaiah readily agrees because he was indebted. There was a sense of gratitude. Now, these are the intra-party uh you know, uh dynamics.

[00:05:03]You can question the Congress strategy of having this kind of rotational arrangement that didn't work in uh Rajasthan, that didn't work in Madhya Pradesh, that did work in Punjab, that didn't work in uh uh Chhattisgarh. But finally, it worked. So, it is a success story.

[00:05:19]This is one part of the entire uh political dimension. Second thing, uh Nilam, is very interesting.

[00:05:26]The Congress is now in power in in in Kerala. It is sharing power in Tamil Nadu. It is in power in uh uh in Telangana. Now, Congress wants to extend extend its sort of uh base in South because ultimately, if you get 90 Lok Sabha seats in South, then you are in business because the rest of the country, if you get 50-60, then the Congress would be 150 and if Congress get 150 Lok Sabha seats, there is no way that the BJP will get majority or will be in a position to form the government because there are others. Therefore, Rahul is extending a hand hand of friendship to Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra and of course, as he said, four states, he's already a player. So, this is a strategy and then next round is the election in Punjab, Himachal, uh Uttarakhand. If Congress can get two three states of the, you know, north and central India, the will become visible. And of course, there is Uttar Pradesh where there is an alliance with the >> Right. You know, you've studied uh D. K.

[00:06:26]Shivakumar closely. I mean, you know, in the course of writing this book also, what do you think, you know, in the backdrop of what has happened, what will be D. K.'s immediate challenges?

[00:06:37]>> I think, as we say, you know, uneasy is the head that wears the crown. There are insurmountable challenges. There are political challenges. There is a story of success. Remember in 2024, Siddaramaiah, a very mature leader, but the Congress got only six Lok Sabha seats out of 28. D. K.'s task, and Rahul Gandhi has trusted him, is to ensure that in 2029, the Congress ends up getting more than 20 Lok Sabha seats.

[00:07:03]And as you know, there is a socio-economic survey that was uh commissioned during Siddaramaiah's time.

[00:07:09]Before uh resigning, he got that report accepted. Now, that is going to create lot of problems on the social fabric of uh reservation and caste fabric of Karnataka. So, there are lot of challenges before uh D. K. Shivakumar.

[00:07:23]He has to be a successful chief minister, lead Congress to victory in May 2028. So, roughly, he has just about 2 years' time. More importantly, he has to ensure that in 2029 Lok Sabha election, Congress ends up getting 20 or more Lok Sabha seats. We all say Siddaramaiah was a very seasoned politician. He had this Ahinda alliance.

[00:07:43]He had a lot of things going for him.

[00:07:45]But in 2024, which was a bad election for Mr. Modi because he didn't get a simple majority. But from Karnataka, the Congress managed to get only six Lok Sabha seats.

[00:07:55]So from six to, you know, 20 is a very tall order, a very difficult order. Then there are very powerful and senior leaders are there in Karnataka who represent, you know, caste like minority minority is not a caste but the minority aspirations, Dalits, the backward, the tribal, the Lingayats. All kind of, you know, social groupings are there. And so D.K. Shivakumar has has to lead everybody. He has to be a team leader.

[00:08:22]You know, he has to do a bit like Dhoni what Dhoni used to do with Indian cricket team when there were very talented players over there. But the Dhoni's success was his ability to carry all of them together.

[00:08:33]>> Right. You know, interestingly you mentioned Ahinda or the backward classes. So, you know, will D.K. be able to retain Ahinda or backward classes support since he's very, I would say, clearly identifies with the Vokkaligas, which is a very, you know, sort of a dominant community.

[00:08:51]>> Absolutely. But we must also not forget that the Congress has its own, you know, social base. So Ahinda was, of course, Mr. Siddaramaiah's sort of creation just as Kam alliance in Gujarat was Madhavsinh Solanki's idea. But these social groups, these tribals, minorities, and many others, they and Dalits, they tend to lean on the Congress.

[00:09:15]So there is no challenger to the Congress. BJP cannot get into that Ahinda social coalition. So that is where it's D.K. does not forget has been the PCC chief. What is the job of a PCC chief? PCC chief is a, you know, leads the party, keeps all the factions together, and strategizes for 20 23 elections just as now it will be a task to lead Congress to victory in 2028. So, it's not that DK is a novice or DK is a, you know, someone who's an outsider. He's well-versed with all these socio-economic dynamics, and therefore I don't see him having this problem. See, he has cut his political teeth during the time of, you know, Virendra Patil and others. He has seen it all. He has always been a politician.

[00:09:59]It's not that he was a, you know, back bencher or someone or a army officer and got into politics.

[00:10:05]So, therefore he has done student, you know, union elections. In my book I have written how a kidnapping was staged, and a lot of episodes are there.

[00:10:13]Uh, he has a line with the youth, though he's 64. So, there's a lot of things, you know, DK Shivakumar brings to the table. And of course, the resourcefulness, his ability, what he demonstrated during Ahmed Patel's Rajya Sabha election, that election was not between Ahmed Patel and the BJP, but it was Ahmed Patel versus Amit Shah. And each vote, you know, counted. So, DK has done a lot of this what we call it resort politics, taking MLAs away from Maharashtra to to to Karnataka and other than Rahul.

[00:10:45]So, he is very, that is not the area where he is not, what we call it in Hindi, sam, dam, dand, bhed. He knows it all.

[00:10:53]>> Right. So, you know, even though Siddaramaiah has stepped down, do you think he will sort of play second fiddle to Mr. Shivakumar?

[00:11:02]>> Look, let's face it, age is not in his side. Then he has a sense of gratitude towards Rahul Gandhi. As I said that he demanded time till March 26th, and Rahul Gandhi gave him time till May 26th. Then his son, let's not forget, you see the dynasty politics, you can criticize, but it has very deep roots. So, as long as I think Mr. Siddaramaiah's son is accommodated in DK Shivakumar cabinet, I think this government will be stable. If I were to advise, I'm a independent biographer, I would say take you know even if doesn't want take his son in the cabinet because that is your insurance policy and say this old you know stories and all we are told that many people you know they used to have to tell me John now you know that case we don't know but of course politically speaking that is better than me John so John better than me to be a >> [laughter] >> Well you know many many also describe DK Shivakumar as someone who's a businessman as you also said the resort politics he can take care of all of that but do you think he'll have to do more to be seen as a very serious politician you know who means business and who will be able to focus on the welfare schemes considering you know that I may I know I would say that Trump card of guarantee that has already been sort of exhausted so you know what more will he be able to do in terms of the two years that he has to perform >> Very interesting question I think that I may have an old school old-fashioned politician who believed in empowering you know cast and various other things working behind the scene DK Shivakumar needs to be a very visible face he has to be a tech guy you know he is essentially from Bangalore and Bangalore has a lot of problems of course it's a it has a lot of opportunity but it has a lot of challenges if DK Shivakumar is able to solve half of the problems that Bangalore is facing in terms of infrastructure in terms of transport and many other districts then DK Shivakumar will become hero like what Rajiv Gandhi had done or what Manmohan Singh had done urban middle class Indians are very easily attracted so success of DK Shivakumar will be you know transported elsewhere all over the country so therefore I think Rahul Gandhi's investment in DK Shivakumar is very significant. As you know, at the national level, the middle class is totally alienated to Congress.

[00:13:36]So, if the DK Shivakumar can connect the middle class with with the Congress with that, you know, sort of Bangalore model or Bangalore model, then I think Rahul Gandhi is in business into for 2029.

[00:13:51]So, a lot of things are there. See, we have seen uh you know, people when they when they are offered some kind of, you know, post, when they are given an opportunity, they excel.

[00:14:03]I mean, I can tell you, you may not believe, but Manmohan Singh was seen as a very before he became a finance minister in '91, he was seen as a typical, you know, timid Babu. Of course, he had an idea, but nobody had seen him to be a sort of CEO, a hands-on person, which he proved as finance minister under P. V. Narasimha Rao and later on as 10 minutes 10 years as prime minister. So, like we say, there's a there's a film song, you know, "K mere pairon mein ghungroo bandh le, phir meri chaal dekh le."

[00:14:34]>> [laughter] >> So, DK has been saying this.

[00:14:37]Not not this song, but his body language has been this, "Give me a chance and I'll show you."

[00:14:43]>> Hm, and I'll I'll perform. Well, you know, what does it mean, his elevation?

[00:14:48]What does it also mean for the BJP and, you know, what what BJP now needs to do because, you know, BJP has been talking about the fact that look at, you know, their house is not in order. They first need to put their house in order and, you know, the upcoming elections which are almost 2 years away, what in terms of strategy, will they also have to sort of make major changes? We are also expecting a new state president in Karnataka, not yet announced, but many are expecting changes there, too.

[00:15:18]>> So, I think the BJP faces a bigger challenge because they were hoping that anti-incumbency as you know Siddaramaiah's age and all will benefit the BJP and BJP will be the automatic choice. Now suddenly there's a new stick, there's a new player. So the BJP has to get back to its drawing room strategy and of course on the ground and make the challenge. It also made you know empowerment of a powerful Vokkaliga leader base. It's like you know curtains for JDS because the JDS although the old Mysore area etc. It poses lot of challenge. I'm not saying I'm not announcing political death of JDS but I'm saying JDS faces lot of you know challenges because if a chief minister of a state belongs to a particular caste, there is sort of aspiration inspiration all these things are there. And the BJP does not have actually someone to match DK. Of course they have sort of ED, CBI, income tax and all and Mr. DK Shivakumar as I had a I had a taste of it. He went to jail also. Will would we see this kind of some kind of thing happening which is out of the box?

[00:16:29]But I think the BJP is very careful about what happened in the you know liquor scam which failed to stick on Arvind Kejriwal lost power. But people were you know able to see that there was a political design.

[00:16:42]So therefore I'm saying the BJP has to think out of the box to counter DK Shivakumar and DK Shivakumar initially at least one year what we call it in politics is a kind of honeymoon period.

[00:16:54]Depends how much of it DK is able to deliver. I think talking about the Bangalore model of infrastructure, IT and all those things. If he's able to do something then of course you know he will have a chance otherwise the BJP will have a chance because Aindha alliance is no longer there in that kind of pronounced manner.

[00:17:17]>> Yeah well I've taken a lot of your time, but one last question, you know, if you look at all that has happened in the recent past in terms of optics also, there was a lot of criticism and flak that the high command, so-called high command of the Congress had, so you know, faced.

[00:17:34]What do you think in terms of the three latest decisions that I was talking about? Do you think it will sort of change how the high command of the Congress, especially the leadership of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, that is sort of viewed?

[00:17:48]>> I think you you asked a very important question. We must remember political loyalty is is extremely transactional.

[00:17:57]So, if a leader is able to deliver, people become, you know, he becomes very popular, he or she. You look at You look at Indira Gandhi, and I keep saying, when Indira Gandhi lost power, you see the person who had coined this term, India is Indira, Indira is India, that D.K. Barooah, he went to Shah Commission to depose against Indira Gandhi.

[00:18:18]So, loyalty is very transactional, and Rahul Gandhi has seen it. 150 leaders of some importance left the Congress in regular intervals. Now, there is thing that Rahul Gandhi can reward a loyalist, and Rahul Gandhi can deliver. And if Rahul Gandhi can get 90 Lok Sabha seats from southern states of India, if he can bring Jagan to his side as an ally or some kind of functional relationship, then you have a foothold in Andhra, also. So, therefore, this is actually a very, I would say, interesting time in the Congress because Rahul Gandhi is appearing to be very different. He's very hands-on, and suddenly there is a greater acceptability of Rahul Gandhi.

[00:19:02]At least Congress people, I'm not talking about media, I'm not talking about opposition. A common average Congressman looking Rahul Gandhi with a degree of interest, and I think that's a very big positive for Rahul Gandhi.

[00:19:14]>> Right. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Kidwai, for giving us your time, and we look forward to the release of the book.

[00:19:19]Thank you so much for sharing your insight on DK as well as Karnataka politics. Thank you so much.

[00:19:30]>> [bell]