Popularly called ‘Kanakapura Bande’ — the granite rock of Kanakapura– the assembly segment he represents, Shivakumar has also earned the reputation of being the Congress party‘s ‘troubleshooter’. His first major political break came in 1985 when he contested from the Sathanur Assembly segment on a Congress ticket, though unsuccessfully. Four years later, he won from the constituency and entered the Assembly in 1989. Since then, he has won eight consecutive Assembly elections without a break.
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Over the years, the 64-year-old leader steadily positioned himself as the Congress party’s principal Vokkaliga strongman. The Vokkaligas are among Karnataka’s dominant agrarian communities. The Congress high command tested Shivakumar’s political management skills in 2017 by assigning him the responsibility of safeguarding 42 Gujarat Congress MLAs in Bengaluru ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections to prevent cross-voting. He lived up to the expectations of the party leadership, as Congress candidate Ahmed Patel won the election from Gujarat.
Congress leaders said the episode exacted a personal and political cost on Shivakumar, as the Income Tax Department raided properties linked to him during that period. The Congress alleged that the action was politically motivated. Subsequently, a series of raids and searches by the Enforcement Directorate also followed. On September 3, 2019, Shivakumar was arrested and he was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail for 50 days. While many believed the imprisonment would weaken him or push him towards the BJP, his loyalty to the Congress only appeared to strengthen further.
His organisational skills, political resilience and commitment to the party impressed the Congress high command, which appointed him Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president in 2020. Shivakumar took charge at a difficult phase for the Congress in Karnataka. The party had performed poorly in the 2018 Assembly elections, and the setback deepened in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when the Congress managed to win just one of 28 seats in the state amid the Narendra Modi wave.
The BJP won 26 seats, including a BJP-backed independent candidate, Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya. The lone Congress victory came from Bengaluru Rural, won by Shivakumar’s brother D K Suresh. A month after the Lok Sabha debacle, the Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by H D Kumaraswamy collapsed following the disqualification of 18 Congress and JD(S) MLAs, many of whom later joined the BJP and helped the saffron party return to power in the state for the fourth time.Also Read: Karnataka to get new CM on June 3 as DK Shivakumar wins Congress Legislative Party race
The subsequent bypolls to the 18 seats proved disastrous for the Congress-JD(S) alliance, with the BJP winning 15 constituencies.
Following the poor performance, then KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao resigned, while Siddaramaiah stepped down as Congress Legislature Party leader. It was in these circumstances that the Congress leadership turned to its trusted lieutenant Shivakumar in 2020 — a decision that would later revive the party’s fortunes in the state. Under his leadership, the Congress returned to power with a thumping majority in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, winning 134 seats in the 224-member House.
According to Shivakumar, the party’s effective strength later rose to 140 with the support of independent legislators. He faced another crucial test during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where he once again demonstrated his political acumen by improving the Congress tally in Karnataka from one seat in 2019 to nine seats in 2024. Following the Congress’ emphatic victory in the 2023 Assembly elections, Shivakumar was appointed Deputy Chief Minister, holding the Bengaluru Development and Water Resource portfolio.
He continued as the Karnataka Congress president as well, despite demands from some leaders for a change in the state unit leadership.
Shortly after the Congress formed the government in 2023, reports emerged of a power-sharing arrangement in which Siddaramaiah would serve as Chief Minister for the first half of the five-year term, after which Shivakumar would take over. The claim was neither confirmed nor denied by both the leaders.
However, after the Congress government completed two-and-a-half years in office on November 20, 2025, speculation over a leadership transition and the power tussle between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar intensified. Eventually, Shivakumar was elected leader of the Congress legislature party here on Saturday and he is set to take over as the next Karnataka chief minister on June 3.
Born on May 15, 1962, in Dodda Alahalli village near Kanakapura town in Bengaluru South district to Kempegowda and Gauramma, Shivakumar entered politics during his college days in the early 1980s. In 1993, Shivakumar married Usha. The couple has two daughters, Aishwarya and Aabharana, and a son, Aakash.
