In the past 14 months, senior Congressman and Minister DK Shivakumar emerged as one of the most influential leaders in the party, as also the coalition government. The Vokkaliga leader, who built his political career fighting the JDS, particularly the Deve Gowda family, had gone on to become H D Kumaraswamy’s Man Friday after the government was formed, always willing to take on the responsibility to save it.

He landed up at rebel Congress Minister M T B Nagaraj’s residence in Bengaluru to convince him against strengthening the rebels, and even made futile attempts to reach out to rebels staying in a Mumbai hotel. That, however, did not save the government. His loyalists may call him the “troubleshooter”, but some even in his party accuse him of being part of the problem itself.

The rebellion first started from Belagavi, and Shivakumar’s interference in matters of the district was one of the reasons for it. But the Congress leader had helped the party win the LS bypoll in Ballari in 2018 as also the Kundagol Assembly by-election in 2019. According to party insiders, he was positioning himself as a strong Vokkaliga leader in the Congress, and trying to expand his persona across the state.

The collapse of the coalition is expected to be a setback for the Congress leader who is facing a number of I-T cases. Although among the frontrunners for the KPCC president’s post, Shivakumar will now face competition from other Vokkaliga leaders, including Krishna Byre Gowda, who led from the front during the confidence motion