DK Shivakumar was the third-richest candidate within the fray in Karnataka Meeting polls.
Bengaluru:
He is called the “bother shooter” of the Congress however when it got here to changing into the Chief Minister, D Okay Shivakumar could not clear the hurdle and was pipped to the put up by Siddaramaiah.
With Shivakumar as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, the social gathering scored a powerful victory within the Might 10 elections with 135 seats within the 224-member Meeting. And he gave the impression to be “the person of the second”.
The 61-year-old eight-time MLA, whose organising abilities earned him full reward by the social gathering central management significantly within the current high-stakes polls, put up a spirited combat to bag the coveted put up however needed to accept the deputy Chief Minister’s put up.
The Congress counted on Mr Shivakumar, who’s fondly known as as ‘Kanakapura bande (rock)’ by his supporters, when it wished to maintain its flock collectively throughout the time when the then Maharashtra Chief Minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh confronted the belief vote, and Ahmed Patel was contesting Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat.
“When Deshmukh confronted the no-trust vote in 2002 he bought in contact with Mr Shivakumar. As a bother shooter, Mr Shivakumar huddled the Maharashtra MLAs in his resort on Bengaluru outskirts for every week till the date of vote. This transfer saved the Deshmukh authorities,” a Congress chief recounted.
He was additionally “instrumental” in guaranteeing the victory of late Ahmed Patel within the Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat in 2017 as effectively, when he once more corralled the Congress MLAs in Gujarat in a resort, based on one other social gathering chief.
In September 2018, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a cash laundering case in opposition to Mr Shivakumar, A Hanumanthaiah, an worker on the Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and different folks.
The case was based mostly on an Revenue Tax Division chargesheet filed in opposition to Shivakumar and others earlier than a court docket in Bengaluru for alleged tax evasion and hawala dealings.
The I-T division accused D Okay Shivakumar and his affiliate S Okay Sharma of transporting big quantities of unaccounted money frequently via ‘hawala’ channels with the assistance of three different accused.
A collection of raids by the Revenue Tax and ED ensued and circumstances have been slapped in opposition to him.
He was arrested by the ED on September 3, 2019 in a money-laundering case underneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) after an intense interrogation. He bought bail on October 23, 2019.
On Might 26, 2022, the ED filed a chargesheet underneath the anti-money laundering legislation in opposition to Mr Shivakumar.
By the way, DK Shivakumar was the third-richest candidate within the fray in Karnataka Meeting polls this 12 months, with property value Rs 1,413 crore, the Affiliation for Democratic Reforms mentioned in its report.
Born on Might 15, 1962 in Kanakapura to Doddalahalli Kempe Gowda and Gouramma, Shivakumar began his political profession as a pupil chief within the 1980s and step by step rose via the ranks of the Congress social gathering.
Mr Shivakumar contested his maiden election from Sathanur Meeting constituency (which was rechristened as Kanakapura after delimitation in 2008) in 1989 when he was simply 27.
Over three many years later when the essential 2023 Meeting outcomes have been introduced on Saturday, an emotional Mr Shivakumar mentioned, “I give credit score to social gathering cadres and all of the leaders for the social gathering’s victory. Individuals have reposed religion in us and the leaders supported us. It’s a collective management and we’ve got labored collectively.”
“I had advised Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge that we are going to ship Karnataka to you,” he had mentioned.
The sturdy Vokkaliga face of the Congress, D Okay Shivakumar continued his successful streak in Kanakapura, defeating senior BJP chief R Ashoka by over 1.22 lakh votes within the current polls.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)