Shivakumar’s elevation as Karnataka CM poses existential challenge for JD(S)

The changing of the guard in Karnataka’s Congress-led government is emerging as an existential challenge for the Janata Dal (Secular); With some dramatic decisions being considered by the party leadership, including Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s possible return to full-time State politics.

From the JD(S) perspective, DK Shivakumar’s rise is seen as politically disadvantageous for Mr. Kumaraswamy as both leaders belong to the Vokkaliga community and have been engaged in a decades-long struggle for influence over the community, especially in the Old Mysore region of the State.

The minority voters, who were earlier part of the JD(S) and Congress vote bank, later shifted largely to the Congress under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s AHNDA combination of backward classes, minorities and Dalits and JD(S)’s move to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The gradual consolidation of the JD(S) vote base by the Congress comes at a time when Assembly elections in Karnataka are due in 2028.

Party sources said Mr. Kumaraswamy may give up his ministerial post during the next reshuffle in the Union Council of Ministers in favor of his brother-in-law and Lok Sabha MP CN Manjunath, who won the Bangalore Rural seat on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket in 2024.

“The next Assembly elections will already be an existential election for the JD(S), but the challenge is greater with DK Shivakumar becoming the Prime Minister, a Vokkaliga, after a long time. Kumaranna [H.D. Kumaraswamy] A senior source from the party said that Dr. He told CN Manjunath that he could leave it and return to State politics.

Among the issues that Mr. Kumaraswamy and his father, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, want to highlight locally are the proposed large-scale land acquisition for Greater Bengaluru Integrated District near Bidadi in outer Bengaluru and Ramanagara, considered a Gowda family stronghold.

Siddaramaiah Cabinet approved the acquisition of 7,481 acres of land spread over nine villages, mostly owned by small farmers. According to some assessments, more than 8,600 farmers with less than an acre of land fall under the proposed acquisition area, while 1,900 have a little more than an acre. Only one landowner in the area is reported to own between 10 and 20 acres and another between 20 and 30 acres.

Mr Deve Gowda had already written to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress Parliamentary Party president Sonia Gandhi on the issue.

It is increasingly clear that the political tussle within the Congress between Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Shivakumar is beginning to reshape the broader political landscape in Karnataka, with implications for rival parties such as the JD(S).