DK Shivakumar: The trouble shooter who always 'delivers' for Congress

Congress party has swept the southern state of Karnataka, which brings immense satisfaction to the party's top brass leaders. However, the biggest challenge is to decide on the next Karnataka Chief Minister face, in which heavyweights DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah are the front runners. A Congress Legislature Party meeting on Sunday, has unanimously authorised Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to pick a name for the state's top post.

The credit for Congress' victory in Karnataka has widely gone to Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar and the leader of the opposition in the outgoing assembly Siddaramaiah. A tussle between both the contenders for the CM post is speculated as leaders in Delhi are deciding on the final name. As the CM race heats up in Karnataka, let's look back at DK Shivakumar's role in saving the Congress party from major setbacks. 

DK Shivakumar: The Congress' saviour 

The 61-year-old Kanakapura legislator, DK Shivakumar has been seen always on his toes when it came to saving his party from major setbacks. Shivakumar has mastered himself in keeping flocks together since 2002 when Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Congress was facing a no-confidence motion. He was the man who hosted the Maharashtra MLAs in a Bengaluru resort and looked after them for a week. They were escorted back to Mumbai on the date of trust vote which helped the Deshmukh government to survive in Maharashtra. 

In another incident of the Congress-JD(S) alliance government after the 2018 Karnataka assembly elections, DK Shivakumar was given the onerous task to keep the alliance stitched together. In the 224-member assembly, the BJP was the single-largest party with 104 MLAs, Congress with 79 and the Janata Dal (Secular) with 37. For a long time, he didn't let the BJP, who was just 9 seats short to retain power, poach a single MLA from the alliance. 

In yet another incident, Shivakumar has taken on Amit Shah during the Rajya Sabha polls in 2017 in Gujarat. The seat of Ahmed Patel, the Congress leader and close aide of Sonia Gandhi, was at stake with alleged efforts from the BJP to poach Congress MLAs. At that time, Congress took the help of their troubleshooter Shivakumar who helped in escorting 44 Gujarat MLAs to a Bengaluru resort. When the income tax raid bombed Shivakumar's properties, he was taken away from the resort. His brother, DK Suresh ensured the tight lock of Congress MLAs. Ahmed Patel triumphed in the Rajya Sabha seat.