Karnataka power shift: Constant communication with Delhi was D K Shivakumar's key munition

New Delhi: The transition of power in Karnataka Congress was the culmination of relentless efforts by KPCC president D K Shivakumar, who eventually outmanoeuvred veteran leader Siddaramaiah and persuaded the party high command to direct the chief minister to step down.

Over the past year, with backing from his brother D K Suresh, Shivakumar strengthened his position by countering Siddaramaiah’s camp and strengthening ties with the Congress high command in Delhi, ultimately securing leadership change.

The power struggle became public ahead of the Congress plenary session in Ahmedabad in April 2025. Siddaramaiah’s camp pushed the party’s ‘one man, one post’ principle, demanding that Shivakumar relinquish the KPCC president post since he was also deputy chief minister. 

Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar subsequently made multiple trips to Delhi to present their cases. 

While Siddaramaiah’s side pressed for organisational changes and replacing the state Congress president, Shivakumar worked to keep the leadership transition issue alive and dodged attempts to remove him as state unit president. 

The contest intensified around July 2025 amid talks of a Cabinet reshuffle. Shivakumar successfully persuaded the high command against approving a major ministerial overhaul, which his camp saw as an attempt to consolidate Siddaramaiah’s position.

After the Congress government completed two-and-a-half years on November 20, 2025, speculation over leadership change grew stronger. 

The high command urged both sides to project unity through public posturing like joint breakfast meetings, to ease friction. Discussions planned in Delhi in December 2025 were delayed by a special legislature session called by the government on the Centre’s decision to replace MGNREGA with VB-G RAM G Act. Shivakumar’s camp saw this as a tactic by Siddaramaiah to avoid leadership change talks in the national capital.

Following advice from the central leadership, Shivakumar consulted key state leaders — including those close to Siddaramaiah like Satish Jarkiholi, M B Patil, and Zameer Ahmed Khan — as well as legislators from various regions and communities to build a consensus for his CM dream. 

Throughout the power tussle, Shivakumar projected loyalty and restraint by avoiding direct confrontation, despite public criticism from Siddaramaiah’s camp over his ambition to become CM. However, Suresh kept raising the issue of the ‘promised leadership change’.

Shivakumar’s strong rapport with the high command was built over many years through dedicated organisational work and crisis management, most notably in 2017 when he successfully safeguarded 42 Gujarat Congress MLAs in Bengaluru to prevent cross-voting during the Rajya Sabha elections, helping senior leader Ahmed Patel win.

Shivakumar’s properties were raided by the IT and ED. On September 3, 2019, he was arrested and spent 50 days in Delhi’s Tihar jail. During this period, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited him, further cementing his clout with the Gandhi family.

In contrast, while Siddaramaiah enjoyed the confidence of Rahul Gandhi and maintained contact with senior leaders like K C Venugopal, he was seen as less deeply integrated into the central power structure in Delhi.