D.K. Shivakumar: Congress's Crisis Manager, Karnataka's Kingmaker

Rasheed Kidwai

Congress's Crisis Manager. Karnataka's Kingmaker. India's Most Watched Political Survivor.

When the Indian National Congress needed someone to hold a crumbling coalition together, manage a rebellion or turn the tide in a losing state, there was one name the party turned to: D.K. Shivakumar.

This is the biography of that man.

From the red-soil villages of Kanakapura in Karnataka to the highest offices of state power, D.K. Shivakumar by award-winning political journalist Rasheed Kidwai charts the extraordinary rise of one of India's most watched – and most relentless – politicians. Known as 'Kanakapura Bande’ (‘the Rock of Kanakapura’), Shivakumar has survived ED raids, jail, political exile and decades of being passed over – and emerged stronger each time.

This authoritative political biography covers:

His roots in Karnataka's Vokkaliga heartland and the making of a grassroots political machine

How he became Congress's most trusted crisis manager – deployed to rescue governments in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Goa and beyond

The fierce rivalry and uneasy alliance with Siddaramaiah that defines Karnataka politics today

The 2023 Karnataka election – strategy, sweep and the bittersweet power-sharing that followed

His complex equation with the Gandhi family and his long, patient wait for the chief ministership

The contradiction at his core: strongman and strategist, temple devotee and Bengaluru's moderniser

Written with deep access and political insight, this book is essential reading for anyone tracking the future of the Congress party, the battle for Karnataka and the shifting fault lines of Indian democracy.

If you follow Indian politics, you need to understand D.K. Shivakumar. This book is where you start.