D. K. Shivakumar

Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar (born 15 May 1962), also known by his initials as D. K. Shivakumar, is an Indian politician and businessman who is the 9th and Current Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and also Water resources and Bengaluru Development and Town Planning & Bengaluru Urban District Incharge Minister since 20 May 2023 as a member of the Indian National Congress. He is also the President of the Karnataka PCC since 2020 and was the Working President from 2008 to 2010. He was the cabinet minister in the Government of Karnataka from 2014 to 2019. He represented the Kanakapura constituency in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly since 2008 and from Sathanur Assembly constituency from 1989 to 2004.

D. K. Shivakumar
9th Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 May 2023
Governor	Thawar Chand Gehlot
Chief Minister	Siddaramaiah
Preceded by	Laxman Savadi C. N. Ashwath Narayan Govind Karjol
Member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 May 2008
Preceded by	P. G. R. Sindhia
Constituency	Kanakapura
In office 30 November 1989 – 10 May 2008
Preceded by	K. L. Shivalinge Gowda
Succeeded by	Office Abolished
Constituency	Sathanur
President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 July 2020
National President	Mallikarjun Kharge
Preceded by	Dinesh Gundu Rao
Cabinet Minister, Government of Karnataka
In office 11 July 2014 – 23 July 2019
Governor	H. R. Bhardwaj Konijeti Rosaiah Vajubhai Vala
Chief Minister	H. D. Kumaraswamy Siddaramaiah
Ministry and Departments	Water Resources Medical Education Energy
Preceded by	M. B. Patil (Water Resources) Sharan Prakash Patil (Medical Education) K. S. Eshwarappa (Energy)
Succeeded by	Ramesh Jarkiholi E. Tukaram
Working President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee
In office 2008–2010
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Eshwara Khandre assumed office on 2018
Personal details
Born	(1962-05-15) 15 May 1962 (age 62) Kanakapura, Mysore State, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Usha Shivakumar
Children	3
Relatives	D. K. Suresh (brother)
Occupation	Politician

Personal life

Shivakumar was born to Kempegowda and Gouramma^[1] in Kanakapura^[2] near Bangalore, Karnataka. He belongs to the Vokkaliga community.^[3]

He has a younger brother D. K. Suresh who's also a politician.^[4] Shivakumar married Usha in 1993 and has two daughters, Aishwarya and Aabharana, and a son Aakash with her. His oldest daughter is married to Amartya, son of Café Coffee Day founder V. G. Siddhartha.^[5]

He is one of the richest politicians in India.^[6]

Political career

Shivakumar started his political career in the early 1980s as a student leader and gradually rose through the ranks of the Congress party. He won his first election in 1989 when he was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the Sathanur constituency in the Mysuru district. He was just 27 years old at the time and contested the election on a Congress ticket.^[7] Shivakumar went on to win re-election from the same constituency in the subsequent assembly elections in 1994, 1999 and 2004. He won from Kanakapura constituency in 2008, 2013, 2018 & 2023.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Vilasrao Deshmukh, during his tenure as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, worked closely with Shivakumar when he faced the motion of no confidence in 2002. Shivakumar hosted the Maharastra legislators in his resort located on the outskirts of Bangalore for a week until the date of the vote. This saved Deshmukh's government.^[13]

Just before his election to the Rajya Sabha in 2017 from Gujarat, he assisted his party leadership to move 42 Gujarat Congress MLAs into his resort in Bengaluru to avoid them moving to another political party. Subsequently, this helped Ahmed Patel to win the election.^[8][14]

He is credited with playing a critical role in the formation of the coalition government of Indian National Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka following the 2018 election.^[15]

He is also a close confidante of party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.^[16] Shivakumar is among the richest politicians in India. While filing his nomination for election in 2018, he declared total assets of ₹840 crore.^[17]

On 2 July 2020, Shivakumar officially took charge as Karnataka PCC president succeeding Dinesh Gundu Rao.^[18]

On 20 May 2023, Shivakumar became the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka following the victory of the Congress party in the 2023 election.

Positions held

Year	Position	Ref
1989–1994	Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly Minister of Prisons and Homeguards (17 October 1990 – 19 November 1992)	[19]
1994–1999	Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly Minister of Urban Development (11 October 1999 – 20 May 2004)	[19]
1999–2004	Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly	[9]
2004–2008	Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly	[9]
2008–2013	Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly KPCC Working President ( 2008 – 2010)	[10]
2013–2018	Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly Minister of Energy (11 July 2014 – 19 May 2018)	[12]
2018–2023	Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly Minister of Major Irrigation and Medical Education (23 May 2018 – 23 July 2019) Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President (2 July 2020 – present)	[20]
2023–	Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka (20 May 2023 – present)

Electoral statistics

Year	Election	Constituency Name	Party	Result	Votes gained	Vote share%	Margin	Ref
1985	Karnataka Legislative Assembly	Sathanur	INC	Lost	29,809	38.78%	15,803	[9]
1989	Karnataka Legislative Assembly	Sathanur	INC	Won	44,595	49.77%	13,650	[9]
1994	Karnataka Legislative Assembly	Sathanur	IND	Won	48,270	46.08%	568	[9]
1999	Karnataka Legislative Assembly	Sathanur	INC	Won	56,050	54.64%	14,387	[9]
2002 (bypoll)	Lok Sabha	Kanakapura	INC	Lost	529,133	37.61%	52,576	[21]
2004	Karnataka Legislative Assembly	Sathanur	INC	Won	51,603	47.91%	13,928	[9]
2008	Karnataka Legislative Assembly	Kanakapura	INC	Won	68,096	48.34%	7,179	[10]
2013	Karnataka Legislative Assembly	Kanakapura	INC	Won	100,007	56.77%	31,424	[10]
2018	Karnataka Legislative Assembly	Kanakapura	INC	Won	127,552	68.52%	79,909	[11]
2023	Karnataka Legislative Assembly	Kanakapura	INC	Won	143,023	75.00%	122,392	[10]

References

1. "Shivakumar's father passes away". The Hindu. 1 January 2014. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
2. Swamy, Rohini (4 August 2017). "DK Shivakumar: The man called tiger of Sathanur". India Today. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
3. "D K Shivakumar: Congress's trusted Vokkaliga strategist-strongman". Hindustan Times. 2 August 2017. Archived from the original on 1 September 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
4. "DK Shivakumar likely to be Karnataka Congress chief". Hindustan Times. 16 February 2020. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. "D.K.Shivakumar Assets". Retrieved 26 October 2023.
7. Prabhu, Nagesh (22 April 2023). "D.K. Shivakumar | Congress's man for all seasons". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 4 May 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
8. "DK Shivakumar: The man who saved Congress". Bangalore Mirror. Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
9. "Sathanur Assembly Constituency Election Result". resultuniversity.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
10. "Kanakapura (Karnataka) Assembly Constituency Elections". elections.in. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
11. "KANAKAPURA ASSEMBLY ELECTION RESULTS (2018)". oneindia.com. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
12. "Shiva Kumar and Roshan Baig sworn-in as ministers in Karnataka Cabinet". The Times of India. 1 January 2014. Archived from the original on 15 April 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
13. Swamy, Rohini (11 March 2020). "Why DK Shivakumar is the Congress' choice to lead the party out of a hole in Karnataka". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 4 May 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
14. "DK Shivakumar: The man who checkmated Amit Shah in Karnataka". The News Minute. 20 May 2018. Archived from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
15. "Cong's D K Shivakumar man of the match". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
16. "Who is DK Shivakumar? Karnataka power broker is also one of India's richest ministers". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
17. "D K Shivakumar declares total assets of Rs 840 crore, a staggering jump from Rs 251 crore in 2013". The New Indian Express. 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
18. "D K Shivakumar takes charge as KPCC president". The Hindu. 2 July 2020. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
19. "Meet DK Shivakumar, Congress' Last 'Resort' for Tricky Trust Votes". News18. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
20. "D K Shivakumar takes charge as KPCC president". The Hindu. 11 March 2020. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
21. "PC Bye Election: Kanakapura 2002". indiavotes.com. Retrieved 11 September 2023.

External links

• Official website