DK Shivakumar, the head of the Karnataka Congress, said that the party's crushing victory in the Assembly elections on May 10 was the best birthday present the people could have given him. "My life is dedicated to serving the people of Karnataka", said Shivakumar on Monday.
"On the eve of my birthday, the people of Karnataka gave me the best birthday gift possible. Thanks to my Congress family for their warm greetings," he said.
Shivakumar is engaged in an extreme rivalry with senior party leader Siddaramaiah for the Chief Minister's post.
At its meeting on Sunday, the Karnataka Congress Legislature Party unanimously approved a resolution granting AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge authority to select the state's next chief minister.
Who is DK Shivakumar?
DK Shivakumar's supporters throughout the state affectionately refer to him as the "Tiger of Sathanur." In his first election, he was up against the powerful HD Deve Gowda in the Sathanur Assembly constituency in 1985. He lost, but he won that same seat in 1989.
During S Bangarappa's government, he was appointed as Minister of State for Prisons and Home Guards. He has never looked back since then, and his political career has continued to develop.
A Vokkaliga by station, he became close to former Chief Minister SM Krishna, in whose tenure Shivakumar served in as the cabinet minister.
Shivakumar was asked to "protect" the MLAs who had been relocated to the Eagleton Resort in Bengaluru in 2001 when the Congress-NCP alliance was experiencing a crisis in Maharashtra.
In 2008, the leader of the Congress also held the position of working president. In 2013, he also held the position of minister in the government of Siddaramaiah.
During the Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat in 2017, when Sonia Gandhi's then-political secretary Ahmed Patel was running for office, Shivakumar played an important role. Shivakumar moved 44 MLAs to Bengaluru and guaranteed Patel won the political race.
Shivakumar worked for the JDS in 2018, despite his disagreements with the Gowda family during the coalition government. He was likewise the cabinet minister in the Kumaraswamy government.
When the Income Tax Department raided his Bengaluru and Delhi properties in 2017, he ran into legal trouble. After that, the CBI and Enforcement Directorate each brought their own cases against him.
Shivakumar was taken into custody by the ED in 2019 after several rounds of questioning. Sonia Gandhi paid him a visit during his 50-day stay in Tihar jail.
He was greeted warmly in Bengaluru when he got out of jail. During the Rajya Sabha elections in 2017, Congress believes that the BJP targeted Shivakumar for keeping 44 Gujarat MLAs in Bengaluru.
Sonia Gandhi appointed Shivakumar as president of the KPCC in 2020 as a reward for his loyalty. Since then, Shivakumar has strengthened the party and traveled throughout the state, which has contributed to the party's return to power.
Shivakumar, an eight-time MLA and ardent supporter of the Gandhi family, is hoping that the party will give him a job as Chief Minister as a birthday present.
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