D. K. Shivakumar

Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar (born 15 May 1962), popularly known as DKS, is an Indian politician and businessman. He has served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka since May 2023. He also holds the portfolios of Water Resources, Bengaluru Development, and Town Planning, and serves as the Bengaluru Urban district in-charge. He is a member of the Indian National Congress and has served as the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee since 2020. He previously served as the party's Working President from 2008 to 2010 and as a cabinet minister in the Government of Karnataka from 2014 to 2019.

Shivakumar has represented the Kanakapura Assembly constituency in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly since 2008. Prior to this, he represented the Sathanur Assembly constituency from 1989 to 2008.

Shivakumar was born to Kempegowda and Gour amma in Kanakapura near Bangalore, Karnataka. He belongs to the Vokkaliga community.

He has a younger brother D. K. Suresh who's also a politician. Shivakumar married Usha in 1993 and has two daughters, Aishwarya and Aabharana, and a son Aakash with her. His elder daughter is married to Amartya, son of Café Coffee Day founder V. G. Siddhartha.

He is one of the richest politicians in India.

Shivakumar started his political career in the early 1980s as a student leader and gradually rose through the ranks of the Congress party. He won his first election in 1989 when he was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the Sathanur constituency in the Mysuru district. He was just 27 years old at the time and contested the election on a Congress ticket. Shivakumar went on to win re-election from the same constituency in the subsequent assembly elections in 1994, 1999 and 2004. He won from Kanakapura constituency in 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2023.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, during his tenure as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, worked closely with Shivakumar when he faced the motion of no confidence in 2002. Shivakumar hosted the Maharastra legislators in his resort located on the outskirts of Bangalore for a week until the date of the vote. This saved Deshmukh's government.

Just before his election to the Rajya Sabha in 2017 from Gujarat, he assisted his party leadership to move 42 Gujarat Congress MLAs into his resort in Bengaluru to avoid them moving to another political party. Subsequently, this helped Ahmed Patel to win the election.

He is credited with playing a critical role in the formation of the coalition government of Indian National Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka following the 2018 election.

He is also a close confidante of party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Shivakumar is among the richest politicians in India. While filing his nomination for election in 2018, he declared total assets of ₹840 crore.

On 2 July 2020, Shivakumar officially took charge as Karnataka PCC president succeeding Dinesh Gundu Rao.

On 20 May 2023, Shivakumar became the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka following the victory of the Congress party in the 2023 election.

• D.K Shivakumar My neta
• Official website