DK Shivakumar has just become the new Chief Minister of Karnataka, and the Congress party is getting ready to steer its way to the 2028 Assembly elections with its long-time crisis manager at the helm.
Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar or DKShi, as he is casually referred to, is an eight-time MLA and has spent over four decades in politics and with a single party—the Congress. (He is often referred to as bande by his detractors, but that is later in the story). Over the years, he has earned many sobriquets – the ‘crisis man’, the ‘troubleshooter’ or the ‘man for all seasons', as the party used him several times to get itself out of a sticky wicket.
