Three processes kicked in with the arrest of Congress leader DK Shivakumar, popularly known in the state as ‘DKShi’. These are the process of recovery, the process of further ethnicisation and the process of creation of new power centres. In Karnataka politics, Shivakumar is viewed often with disdain and awe. His rustic approach, his purported history of allegations and his attempts to sneak into the domain of local satraps (Belagavi.Jarakiholi brothers), invites the disdain, even from within his party.
At the same time, his closely guarded strategies, his audacious nature of confronting his political opponents, his past in which he challenged the hold H D Deve Gowda had over the Vokkaliga community, have earned him admiration. ‘DKShi’ entered politics at a time when the star of Devaraj Urs was declining in the late 1970s, the Janata Party and BJP politics were on the rise. When the Congress split with one group joining Urs, Shivakumar joined the Congress youth wing.
The first twist in his life came when he defeated Deve Gowda in 1989. Today, he is credited with having defeated three members from Deve Gowda’s family, including his son H D Kumaraswamy and wife Anita.From then, till the time when he kept MLAs from Gujarat in a resort near Bengaluru, Shivakumar has travelled a long way, amassing huge fortunes and several cases against him on the way.
Despite what might seem like a deep-seated antipathy towards the Gowdas, Shivakumar was also a uniting factor in the previous coalition government of Kumaraswamy. Until the formation of the government, Shivakumar was constantly at loggerheads with the family, but after his arrest, he has received the support of two people he defeated earlier, Kumaraswamy and his wife Anita, as well as the JDS.
Shivakumar’s rise in the political hierarchy has led to the creation of a new power centre in the last coalition government as well. While he might not be strong enough to hijack the party, his arrest does come as a setback to his political ambitions. But by no means this is an end to his politics.
His arrest has given the Congress a chance to recover from the deep existential crisis it is undergoing at present. It remains to be seen if Shivakumar succeeds in his attempt to emerge as the new Vokkaliga leader of the Old Mysore region, after his brush with the ED or the corruption investigation. If his ambition to become a power centre within the Congress, by adding the ethnicized Vokkaliga factor, is ever realised. Given the downturn he and the grand old party are facing in tandem.