Karnataka's Biggest Leadership Shift! What Changes Under DK Shivakumar? | South Central | ET Now

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:01]A top story first, it's two back-to- back years of celebration for Bengaluru as RCB has won its second straight IPL championship. With the win, the team now joins an exclusive club of teams in the IPL that successfully defend their IPL title. At present, that club only includes CSK and the Mumbai Indians. On Sunday evening, RCB beat the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad by five wickets and two overs to spare. In what can only be described as a fairy tale run chase straight out of a dream, the team's superstar batter and 37year-old veteran in Virat Kohli fought off a severe case of cramps and not only hit the winning runs for RCB, but also scored his fastest ever IPL 50, reserving his most explosive batting for when it mattered the most. In fact, the match-winning performance saw Kohi score an unbeaten 75 and 42 balls aided by solid contributions from Wenitesh Ayur as well as Tim David. My colleague Arunil brings us a roundup of that win and its aftermath.

[00:01:15]>> Well, it is double delight for King Virat Kohli as well as for the RCP. It took them 18 long years to win their first IPL title and immediately it was backed by another title. Now consecutive IPL title wins for the RCB fans as well as for the fans of King Kohli. Jubilion celebrations being seen in Ahmedabad. In fact in Ahmedabad looked like a home ground for King Kohli as well as for the RCP because whenever Virat Kohli was scoring a boundary or a six it was cheered more than the supposed home team that was the Gujarat titans. The clinical performance from the RCB to clinch their second consecutive title and this also basically paves way for Rajat Patidar as well. Silently he has joined the elite list. He has scripted history joining legendary captains like Mahendra Zik Singh Dhoni as well as Rohit Sharba to win back-to- back IPL titles. Jubilant celebrations being seen in across Karnataka in Bengaluru across fan pan India as well. Many of Virat Kohli fans hailing the batting superstar as well as the uh the all round performance that was being shown by by RCB as well. It was also touted to be a clash between the varo that is Virat Kohli against his supposed successor that is basically Prince Submanil. Virat Kohli clearly triumphed over Suban Gil as well again stamping his authority. In fact the celebrations that were being shown by the via the social media handles of RTB showcases how much this victory means for Virat Kohli and for all the RTB players as well. I am Arunitkar with my video journalist Sachin for Times now in Ahmedabad.

[00:03:04]>> Well, jubilation there across the city of Bengaluru and its diehard cricket fans. Now staying with Bengaluru itself, Karnataka's CM elect DK Shivkumar will take the oath of office of Chief Minister of Karnataka on the 3rd of June. Shivkumar will succeed outgoing Chief Minister Sidaraya in one of the most high-profile leadership transitions that the state of Karnataka has seen in a while. A transition that saw the Congress high command convince Sid Raaya to give up his chief ministership to a relatively younger candidate that the party wants to see leaded back to power in the state come 2028. The Sedar Ramaya saga comes to an end after a good three years at the helm of affairs in Karnataka. And this after the Congress coasted to victory in the 2023 assembly elections. But it also comes at a time when factionalism within the party has been its most pronounced feature in the last few months. Sedaraya remember has said he does not intend to take up a national role within the Congress despite the offer of a Rajya Sabha seat.

[00:04:11]He also added that he will continue to serve as Emily. As such, the Sudamea faction within the Karnataka State Congress continues to remain powerful and will be a factor that weighs down on DK Shivkumar's upcoming tenure as chief minister. So, how is that tenure likely to shape up? What are Shivkumar's challenges likely to be? And what are the items on his priority list from the perspective of investments, industry, and development? Joining us now to discuss all that and more is RN Capital chairman, former Inforces CFO and one of Karnataka's most powerful corporate voices, Moandaspai. Uh Mr. Pi, thank you so much for joining us in South Central today. Uh the state of Karnataka is all set to see one of its most high-profile transitions as DKS is all set to replace the Ramaya as chief minister. A younger, more relatable face. Some might say all of that is politics. Let's keep it aside for now. RCV has won its second straight IPL title becoming the only team to do that after CSK and Mumbai Indians. Great times for Bengaluru overall you'd reckon?

[00:05:21]>> Yes, absolutely. I think the RCB winning is a great gift for a new chief minister and you must remember the chief minister is a generational shift. Our earlier chief minister is a mass politician, veteran politician. He grew up in an era where cast community criminal issues, you know, was was was the was the top of the pyramid, top of the thinking. And for him, having reservation, breaking up the society into different group, joining them together, creating political collaboration, talking about cash, downtrodden, all that was very good. But you know, Karnataka is now the richest state in India. Per capita income of 4 lakh, 35, 44 lakh, 40,000 rupees. What Karnataka requires is a new fresh start focus on growth development and jobs for our young people. Not talking about cast all the time, communal issues, religious issues and trying to divide people and trying to create coalition. And I think that that is the politics of the past. We need a new kind of politics and I think DK Shukumar is the right person from the Congress party for this politics. He's believed in Bangalore very long. He's the protetéé of our ear chief Mr. Krishna who was the first modern chief minister who thought about the future and spoke about how Karnataka and Bangalore can be a global leader and a leader for India and DK Shukumar having stayed here hopefully we'll move away from the communal politics cash politic of Sidraaya and the dole politics of Sidraaya and focus on growth development and jobs and the last three years we not seen much investment because of all these guarantee schemes the guarantees are funded by 20,000 cr of deficit revenue deficit and borrowing every single year for the last 3 years which is disasters for the state. You can't borrow and give subsidies to people. We didn't see much investment in infrastructure, much investment in job creation in the private sector etc. And we had a very backward-looking socially government which is out of tune with the reality of today. What young people want today is grow development and access to good jobs. They want a good quality of life. They're not interested so much in cashal issues as the earlier generation possibly was and they're much much better off and we need a new set of policies a new set of thinking and we hope that DK Shukumar will bring that to the table. We know that he has got two years and one more budget before the elections start next year. So he has been working on many things for the last three years. In the next one year he has to execute all that to make a difference not only for Bangalore for Karnataka also. Karnataka is suffering for long because of this cash communal politics.

[00:07:54]We have to build infrastructure, jobs.

[00:07:57]We have to look after North Karnataka. A lot of things have to be done and we hope he will do it. He's a very strong person. He's a decisive person and he will push aside all kind of objections which may come from all kind of vested interest and people who are lethargic and many people whose job is to protest and to you know go after any decision that is beneficial for the mass of people. So I think we are live with hope now and hopefully we'll not see any dissension. We'll not see two camps fighting for spoils. We'll see only one camp and hopefully things will be much better. And DK Shukima understands very clearly that the next election will be fought fought on different norms because the people who are going to be majority voters are going to be very different kind of people and they are looking for growth development not cast on other issues and I think it's important for party to understand that that the youth and people are disillusioned so they have to perform they have to deliver and we hope that he will.

[00:09:02]Now let's stay with that observation for a bit. Mr. Pi, you just spoke about prioritizing growth factors as opposed to a more traditional social justice oriented approach to politics as the need of the hour. So in the interest of growth, what do you think should be the top three priority areas for the DKS government as it hopes to get Bengaluru back to the pole position? And we're also having this discussion even as Telangana and Andra are taking the lion's share of investments for themselves from the overall investment pie. What do you think DKS should do to actually win back some of that share?

[00:09:40]>> Well, the first thing he has to do is restore confidence in the invest global investment community about Karnataka and Bangalore and for that he has to meet industry leaders, talk to them, assure them. He has to look at all pending requests for land and infrastructure and make sure they approved and done away with the next 30 days. He has to talk to all of them to come back and to invest.

[00:10:01]He has to talk to the CEOs on the outer ring road in Bangalore which has 93 million square feet of great office space 9 lakh people working more than thousand thousand companies very many of them multinationals and promise them he'll improve that road and improve mobility and he has to meet them and deliver 3 months 6 months 9 month intervals and restore confidence that is one second he has to look at infrastructure all across Karnataka revive the swa karnataka expressway from Bangalore to bed with spurs going to Carvar and to Carvar and to Mangalore and he has to build the roads in the northern part of the northern part of the state and make sure that things work and three he has to come out his special job creation policies for the 10 poorest districts of Karnataka. These are three things and he must stop bureaucratic corruption that bureary corruption has gone up tremendously in the last three years. He must stop that. maybe sack 500 corrupt officials across many multiple department of whom I'm sure he knows and show that he cares for people and he wants them to succeed and he must have a very friendly open regime. See we lost the electric vehicle industry to Tamil Nadu despite Ola and Ether being in Bangalore before they went out. We lost the semiconductor industry to Gujarat and other places because we never gave them incentives never market ourselves because there's no money in the state and you know we lost other industries GCC's from Karnataka because of the enable it solve the traffic problem of the last three years for last three years they not improved that road some part of it been improved the end of the road but the road needs to be improved and they promised many times the solve the traffic they've not done it and in Bangalore the metro is 5 years beyond schedule by this time we should be able to have 200 km of metro which has solved many of the traffic problem. He has to implement public transport in Bangalore and public transport all across Karnataka. Many this is that distance he has to take. He has taken some of them earlier but he has to be implemented.

[00:12:00]And here we have a peculiar problem. Low level officials don't listen to the ministers don't execute. They give excuses nothing happens to them. Try doing it in Andra and you see what Babu will do to them. Try doing it in Tamil Nadu and you see what the chief former chief Mr. Stalin would have done to them realize you know we don't know what happens there but in this state true state lower level officer listen to the political and get the work done here they don't listen they don't listen they don't act or nothing happens to them and he has to instill discipline >> now I'm glad you bring up infrastructure and traffic issues because you also talk about how DKS is an industryfriendly phase but it's not like you CEOs industrialists have not had your fair share of run-ins with him as well. In fact, correct me if my memory fails me, but there was that incident last year where industrialists had a minor runin with a government when a cross-section of CEOs criticized the state of Infra and roads in the city. Uh, but DKS did take you on board and try resolving issues while having you give him inputs on what needed to be done. So, do you see a sense of inclusion or inclusivity in the way he goes about problem solving?

[00:13:14]Yes, I mean and we are very encouraged to see him there because he listens, he understands the issue and he's deeply interested. See, we must remember Sidra Maya's political life was nearly over.

[00:13:25]This was the last hurra, right? He didn't bother about the future because you know he knew he's not going to be around. Now for deacon Shukumar the next two years are important to prove he can be a good chief minister. After that he has to be in elections. And now we going to have a census in India. Based on a censor there's going to be a delimitation. Urban seats will increase dramatically. Bangalore will get 20% of the seats in the Karnataka legislature because we are 20% of Karnataka's population. So voters in Bangalore determine the new government and the urban areas will send maybe 45 50 60% of seats to the legislature. So political power is going to be in the urban areas.

[00:14:02]So he has to make sure that they feel good and they want to vote back if he wants to come to power and he's got only two years. So he has to do things fast and he has reach he reached out to people but when we met him also he's very positive but he also very upset with the lack of response from many bureaucrats and other departments now as chief minister he will not let them come in the way and he will bulldo his way and he will do it for example the Bangalore business corridor under a very good officer Elqati is going very well and he is standing by them despite all of some opposition and all that because every infrastructure project has vested interest to try to make money and it's going fairly well. So I'm sure but the key thing is he has to focus on Karnataka, focus on Bangalore, meet people, restore confidence and he also has to be very careful in his communication. There have been two or three instances where he yelled at people. He told people if you don't like Karnataka can leave. That's not the way chief minister should talk. He must listen to everybody because people are upset, frustrated and angry that things don't work and he's responsible for the job. He just cannot talk. and then he went to an apartment block and said if you don't like it blah blah blah you didn't vote for me and all that all that should be given up I'm sure he will because he certainly is a future for the Congress party and we all leave in hope now you mentioned that Sidaya has already had his last hurrah but the fact is that even as we speak Mr. You're seeing the Siddharaya camp try to have its say when it comes to cabinet formation. In fact, Sedaraya himself has gone on record to say that he's in this for the long run that he does not want to transition to a more national role and will serve as MLA even if not as Karnataka Chief Minister. So do you see this approach possibly leading to the emergence of uh of more factionalism within the Congress in Karnataka? And could this be an impediment to investment the existence of dual power centers even if one center is perhaps a little less powerful than the other?

[00:16:02]>> Yes, there the real danger that Sidraaya's faction will now try to extract the pound of flesh. They're already asking for cabinet positions and other things. We hear that Sidra is asking for a ministerial position for his son for his own son. So I don't understand why Sidama should do that because he's always said he's a mass leader blah blah blah and he's asking for a that's what the reports say. So DK has DK has to take all that into account and to manage them. But he's been the main funer for the Congress. He has invested a lot of money in the Congress mechanism. He knows how to pull string.

[00:16:36]He's a very strong man and it will be interesting to see. Yes, dissension will certainly be there. People will gang up together because the too many vested interest in the state. Too many too many vested interest. He has to carry everybody along. And Siddraaya I think is not going to keep quiet. He'll not keep quiet till the last days. He'll always be a power center. And I'm sure he feels offended that he didn't spend his five years because even though he had agreed for two and a half years.

[00:17:00]Yes, a weird possibility. So DK will have his hands full looking at growth development being policy managing his decision in the political party carrying everybody along till the next elections and I think it's going to be very very interesting very tough job but he's a strong man he understand politics very well he understand who is doing what and well he we leave in hope what else can we do >> well we leave it there Mr. Pay Karnataka it seems is all set to embrace a new leadership even as the DKS era of state politics is well and truly upon us. On that note, thank you so much for joining us and breaking down some of those insights.

[00:17:45]Well, staying with more news from the DK Shivkumar swearing in, DKS is also set to become the richest serving CN in the country with declared assets totaling to 1,413.78 crore rupees and that's according to his 2023 election affidavit. Now that puts him ahead of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Enchandra Babu Naidu who has declared assets of around 931 cr rupes and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay whose election affidavit pegged assets at around 625 cr rupes.

[00:18:20]Shivkumar's disclosures include immovable assets worth over 1,140 cr and liabilities of roughly 263 cr.

[00:18:29]Naidu who previously topped the list of India's richest chief ministers has built much of his wealth through family holdings and business interests including heritage foods. Vijay's affidavit meanwhile revealed sizable bank deposits and real estate holdings across Chennai and Kod canal even as assets have been accumulated through his decades long film career before entering politics. So with Shivkumar's elevation expected this week, the country's three wealthiest chief ministers are now all from southern states underscoring the region's growing political and economic health.

[00:19:10]And speaking of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay, he's all set to go about conducting a road show in Truchi. In fact, he's already arrived there today.

[00:19:19]Now remember this uh visit is rather significant because it marks Vijay's first visit to Truchi after becoming chief minister and it's largely significant because remember he contested on a Titra Pali east ticket as well as a Peru ticket having to resign from the Truchi East seat after winning both seats in the recently concluded assembly polls in Tamil Naru. In fact, my colleague Dhi is joining us from ground zero at that road show itself where Chief Minister Vijay is addressing the gathering. Dhi, what's happening there? What is the Chief Minister telling his voters? Is this a thanksgiving of sorts? This road show by Chief Minister Vijay.

[00:20:04]>> Definitely a thanksgiving of sorts is what we can see. And you know during the speech here in Tiri East Vijay went all out against the DMK. He told that the DMK is insulting the people. The DMK is calling the people fools for voting for Tamlak Kalagam. But in fact it is not the people who are fools. It is the DMK uh that is having an ignorant mindset is what Vijay said. In fact he also went on to say that in the future also the politics in Tamil Nadu will be all about TVK versus DMK. there is no place for any other political party or any other individual. Uh the politics in Tamil Nadu will all be about TVK versus GMK in the future is what he is told and he's also went on to tell the people of Tchi East that although he has resigned from the particular assembly constituency ti is no different from Paramur for him both of these constituencies they are like his two eyes and he will take care of uh you know both of them equally is what Vijay has told so this promise has come from Mr. And in the upcoming you know bi-elections in Tamil Nadu TV will field a candidate who is uh you know a native of East and who is one among them and the people should once again vote for TVK and make that candidate to win with a bigger margin is the request that is coming in from Mr. Vijay. So this is the crux of the entire speech that was made by Mr. Vijay. So you know the uh oneliner here is that Vijay is only considering the DMK as his political opponent. He is not considering the ADMK and the BJP as its political opponents at all. uh to him they are nonexistent is what he's trying to convey and he's also you know going on to thank the people of TI East for their you know trust and he is telling that in the future he will you know feel a candidate who is a native among themselves >> right Dhney in fact Dhi I want you to stay on with us because even as you are covering that thanksgiving of Vijay in thirra pali we're also getting news that the BJP's ursw while Tamil Nadu president K. Anamal may well be on his way out of the party. In fact, some reports and some sources are indicating that Anamal himself will make a visit to the national capital where he could expect to tender his resignation into the BJP leadership as he looks to float a party of his own in Tamil Nadu and perhaps stake yet another claim to win widespread support. this this time without the tag of being a BJP candidate and a BJP leader. Dhi, what are you picking up from your sources? Is Anamame on his way out of the BJP and perhaps beginning a political startup of his own and contesting a possible contest of elections on his own accord this time around? Dhi, >> well as we are speaking right now, Anamalai is on a flight to Delhi. uh tonight he'll be landing in Delhi and either tonight or tomorrow he'll be having a meeting with uh BJP's national president Nitan Labin is what we given to understand and of course you know in the airport while speaking to the reporters Anamalai you know told the reporters to wait for a couple of days after a couple of days he'll sit and answer all their questions is what you know he told when asked if he's going to launch a new political party but uh through sources we are understanding that Anamallay is weighing in different options you know one option for him is to launch a political outfit or uh you know he can even uh launch uh you know a people's movement in the beginning and subsequently later turn that into a political outfit. This is one option and of course he's also considering taking a break from active politics and focusing full-time on his NGO that is we the leaders foundation. Uh these two are the options that are currently you know in the hands of Mr. Anamallay and he is weighing in between these two options.

[00:23:42]uh after his meeting with Nitan Nabin we'll get a clear picture but most likely Anamalai is likely to break ties with BJP is what you know we're understanding through sources um you know uh but uh if that happens that is going to be a major loss for the BJP here in Tamilad because you know at the moment we're looking at a generational shift in Tamiladu politics uh the state politics now has all become uh you know it's about chalan versus Mr. Vijay both of them are youngsters. So in such a circumstance it is important for the BJP to have a young face to have a young leader taking charge. So if Anameala is going to break ties with the BJP that will definitely be considered as a big loss for the BJP in the state.

[00:24:23]>> Right. Well Dhi, thank you so much for joining us and breaking down that interesting and significant political development both for Tamil Nadu and the BJP at large.

[00:24:35]Well, moving on to news from the tech space next. India's IT workforce is getting older and Bengaluru headquartered Infosys is a prime example. A recent report has revealed that the share of the company's employees aged 30 and below fell to 50.7% in FY26. That's the lowest it's been in 15 long years. Now while the proportion of workforce or the workers in the 31 to 50 age bracket climbed to a record 45.7% that 30 and below bracket in fact has fallen rather significantly. So that means nearly half the company's workforce is now over 30 years old.

[00:25:16]Industry experts attribute the shift to two factors. fewer fresher hires by uh IT services firms and growing competition from global capability centers or GCC's which are attracting young engineering talent with better pay and specialized roles in areas like AI, cyber security and data science. Despite the trend however Infosys says it remains committed to campus hiring and is targeting around 20,000 fresher recruits and Moving on to Andra next. The state has become the first in the country to secure approval under the cent's PM skill India employability transformation through the PMCU scheme. The approval was granted to Arcela metal leon steel India's strategic investment plan for the Vishaka Patnam ITI cluster developed in partnership with NAME. The clearance accorded the third national steering committee meeting chaired by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship marks the first ever strategic investment plan approved under the 60,000 cr rupee PMCU program. The project is expected to operationalize the schemes industry-led habit spoke model, strengthen industry participation in vocational training, improve employability outcomes and position Andhra Pradesh as the first state to onboard anchor industry partner under the initiative.

[00:26:53]And on that note, we've come to the end of yet another episode of South Central Today. Thanks so much for watching but we'll be back same time, same place tomorrow with more news and updates from South India. For the moment it's goodbye friends.