SHIVAKUMAR’S DUAL POWER PLAY IS DRAGGING CONGRESS DOWN

 For months now, D.K. Shivakumar has carried himself as though the Karnataka Congress cannot breathe without him. Every syllable he utters, every defensive press statement he delivers, reinforces an image of a man who believes he is indispensable. But politics, especially within the Congress, has a way of reminding its leaders that nobody is permanent, and no throne is immune to change.

Reports that the Congress high command is set to remove him from the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee presidency have clearly rattled him. Instead of composure, DKS has reacted with anxiety and bluster. He asserts that “come what may” he will not quit. He declares he has “committed no wrong,” and boasts that he single-handedly built the party from the ground up. This chest-thumping, however, speaks more of insecurity than strength. It reveals a leader who has mistaken the party’s temporary dependence on his purse strings for a deeper, lasting loyalty.

Let’s be blunt: D.K. Shivakumar’s political modesty is close to zero. He wants both the Deputy Chief Ministership and the PCC presidency, as though dual power is his birthright. For two and a half years he enjoyed that double privilege, but the party now seems ready to correct the imbalance. It is not only reasonable—it's overdue.

While DKS indeed loosened his purse for the party, money is not the same as leadership. His abrasive style, needless provocations, and lack of discretion have often damaged the party far more than they have helped it. His jail term on corruption charges, the attachment of vast wealth by enforcement agencies, and the lingering suspicion over how such riches were amassed—all of this cripples his moral authority. A leader who carries such baggage cannot hope to inspire the cadre.

Let us also remember an uncomfortable truth: the Congress did not return to power in Karnataka because of DKS or Siddaramaiah. It returned because people were exhausted by the BJP’s corruption and dysfunction. It was a negative vote, not a ringing endorsement of Congress leadership. Yet the current government has already sunk into the same pits of corruption and drift—perhaps deeper.

After the party’s miserable performance in Bihar, the high command is clearly reassessing its risk factors. Retaining DKS as state party chief is one such risk. If anything, he should be elevated to a national role—general secretary, maybe treasurer—where his organisational skills and financial muscle can be put to use without endangering the party’s prospects in Karnataka.

If he clings to both the Deputy CM post and the PCC presidency, he may well become the very reason the Congress loses its foothold in one of the only two states it governs in the south of Vindhyas. The party needs clarity and maturity in Karnataka. D.K. Shivakumar, for all his strengths, has shown little of either.