A few days back, when a panicky Congress party was looking for a safe haven to lodge its 44 MLAs from Gujarat, amid growing fears of defections reportedly engineered by the BJP, the party high command zeroed in on Congress-ruled Karnataka. The man entrusted with the task of “managing” the legislators till the D-day was Vokkaliga strongman and energy minister D.K. Shivakumar. The MLAs were flown in to Bengaluru and put up at a Bidadi resort, under the watchful eyes of Shivakumar.
Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar (55), popularly known as “DK-Shi”, is not new to resort politics. Last time, he had managed to save the Vilasrao Deshmukh's government in Maharashtra by flying out the Congress legislators on a chartered flight to Bengaluru, to prevent “poaching” by the BJP.
Today, the man nicknamed “Karnataka ATM” and “money bag” of the Congress party, finds himself in the most unsavoury of situations. A team of 120 tax sleuths have commenced massive and simultaneous raids on his properties across 60 locations in three states.
Once a staunch follower of former chief minister S.M. Krishna, Shivakumar emerged out of his shadow and became one of the most influential politicians in the state. He was reported as the second richest minister in India, after he declared assets worth Rs 251 crore in the 2013 assembly elections. It is interesting to note that is assets were worth Rs 75 crore in 2008.
The ace strategist, troubleshooter and shrewd politician, now close to the Gandhi family, was a CM-in-waiting. In fact, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who criticised the I-T raids on Shivakumar's residences and offices, dubbing them as BJP's “political vendetta”, was the one who kept Shivakumar out of his cabinet for more than six months after the Congress party came to power in 2013, citing his “tainted image”.
Recently, DKS had to settle for the post of the Congress' state campaign committee chairman, though he was in the race for the top post in the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).
Born into a modest agriculturist family in Dodda Alahalli in Ramanagara district to Kempegowda and Gowramma, Shivakumar emerged a tall leader by sheer hard work.
Shivakumar pursued a college education in Bengaluru, where he grew popular as a student leader. His stint in Youth Congress became a launch pad for his political career. In 1985, the Congress Party hand picked 25-year-old Kumar to contest against the mighty H.D. Devegowda in Sathnur. Kumar lost the election by a narrow margin, but he had succeeded in impressing the party leadership. He won the Sathnur seat in 1989; in 1992, he became a cabinet minister for the first time in the Bangarappa government and served as a minister for prisons and home guard. He has won the assembly elections six times (from Sathnur, and later Kanakapura assembly segment). He was the cooperation minister (1999-2002) in S.M. Krishna cabinet and was known as the “shadow CM”.
A power tussle exists between Shivakumar, JD(S) patriarch H.D. Devegowda and his son H.D. Kumaraswamy over establishing their authority in the Vokkaliga heartland—Old Mysore region. His younger brother D.K. Suresh being elected as the MP from Bangalore rural has been a shot in the arm for Shivakumar.
The booming granite mining industry in Kanakapura and the real estate boom in Bengaluru and its outskirts proved to be a boon for the budding politician. The DKS family has been accused of illegal mining of granite and stone quarrying, violations of the Forests Act, de-notification of land and tax evasion. At least 27 cases of illegal mining and violations of the Forest Act have been filed against him, but no charges have been proved in the court.
Many cases were filed based on the report (2006-07) by senior forest officer U.V. Singh, on illegal granite extraction.
Shivakumar, in his election affidavit, declared himself as a “social worker” and “educationist” and is the chairman of National Education Foundation, which runs a school in Rajarajeshwari Nagar and another engineering college—Global Academy of Technology, both of which were investigated by I-T sleuths on Thursday. Shivakumar is married to Usha and has three children.
Social activist S.R. Hiremath said, “The raids were long due. D.K. Shivakumar is the most corrupt politician. Just like Bellary had turned into a Bellary Republic owing to illegal mining, Kanakapura is the fiefdom of Shivakumar, as illegal sand-mining, stone quarrying and real estate mafia is rampant. I feel that more than a raid, a coordinated effort by IT, CBI and Enforcement Directorate is necessary to bring him to book.”
