These days, Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy is breathing fire at his political bête noire, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. In the last few weeks, he has eclipsed the principal opposition party, the BJP, by taking on the Congress government over several controversial issues and putting the administration in a spot.
He remains an active opposition leader in Karnataka while holding an important portfolio in the Union Government. What fuels the 66-year-old Vokkaliga leader’s dogged determination? Is it a fight for the regional party Janata Dal (Secular)’s survival or is it his ambition to return to state politics as CM for a third time after the 2028 assembly polls? Is he signalling to the BJP central leadership that they can count on him to lead the NDA in Karnataka?
Perhaps it’s a combination of these factors, and more. Political rivalry between the Vokkaliga leaders dates back over four decades, when a young DK Shivakumar unsuccessfully contested against JD(S) veteran HD Deve Gowda, then a minister in the Ramakrishna Hegde-led Janata Party government, in the Sathanur assembly segment in the 1980s. Despite several major political churns in the state, senior leaders switching sides and coalition governments being formed and dissolved, they have remained arch political rivals – except for a short time when Shivakumar served as a cabinet minister in a Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by Kumaraswamy in 2018-19.
Those working with the Union minister admit that it is an existential battle for the regional party, JD(S), which largely depends on the backing of the dominant Vokkaliga community in the Old Mysuru region. They see Kumaraswamy as a hands-on minister, splitting his time between his responsibilities as a Union minister and a regional party leader.
The CM’s camp followers, however, question the JD(S) leaders’ antipathy towards the CM. They accuse the Union minister of being unable to digest Shivakumar’s elevation to the top post and of being concerned about losing the community’s support base. Some even feel he is playing the role of an aggressive opposition in the state at the behest of the BJP central leadership.
It’s a decades-old turf war that is unlikely to end anytime soon. Some JD(S) insiders are of the view that the equations between the two passed the point of no-return after Prajwal Revanna’s sex scandal came to light during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The scandal shattered the Gowda family. The JD(S) leaders accused some Congress leaders of leaking explicit videos of women and also charged the state government of misusing its powers. Congress has denied these allegations.
Another recent development that apparently irked the regional party leadership was its own MLAs cross-voting in favour of a Congress candidate during the MLC election in June this year. It was seen as an attempt to weaken the regional party and its leadership’s grip over its legislators.
Be that as it may, the regional party leader outshone his coalition partner BJP in pursuing controversial issues including alleged irregularities in the Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project implemented by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE); acquiring farmers’ lands for proposed township development at Bidadi; Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) recruitment scam; and the alleged sting operation targeting former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Although the MoU for BMIC was signed in 1995, when Deve Gowda was the CM, he and his party became its most vocal critics after it allegedly deviated from the original framework agreement and morphed into, what it terms, a real-estate project. A recent High Court judgment, with scathing remarks against the project, has bolstered the JD(S) to revive its campaign. Similarly, the Bidadi Township project was first proposed in 2006 when Kumaraswamy was CM. However, it had not progressed much. Acquisition of farmers’ lands remains a common factor in both projects.
Though BJP leaders discussed these issues in the Assembly and Council, they were far more aggressive in their fight against then CM Siddaramaiah over the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) sites allotment case and diversion of funds of the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, forcing a minister, B Nagendra, to resign twice – in June 2024 from Siddaramaiah’s cabinet and again in August 2026, days after he was inducted into the Shivakumar cabinet.
Strangely, the BJP lacks the same vigour as JD(S), at least so far, in the ongoing sting operation controversy. Kumaraswamy took to the streets, sat on dharna at the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner’s office, and approached the state police chief demanding an impartial probe against those involved in the alleged sting operation against Siddaramaiah. Now, as Congress insiders’ role in the case becomes apparent, the party may have to answer some tough questions over attempts to target one of its tallest leaders in the state. Were those in the government and top party leadership aware of it?
For Kumaraswamy, maintaining momentum against the State Government will not be easy. Much depends on the understanding between the NDA coalition partners. While parties strive to fight as cohesive units and coalitions as reliable partners, politicians will continue to fight for their own political space and prospects.