Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s outreach to JD(S) workers signals push to consolidate Vokkaliga base

Published 9 June 2026 · politics

Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s statement that the Congress’s doors are open for Janata Dal (Secular) workers appears to be a carefully drafted message aimed at

Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s statement that the Congress’s doors are open for Janata Dal (Secular) workers appears to be a carefully drafted message aimed at reshaping Karnataka’s political landscape in the early days of his tenure. The immediate implication is an effort to draw grassroots workers of the JD(S), particularly in the Old Mysore region, where the Congress and the JD(S) traditionally compete for the same Vokkaliga vote bank. By addressing workers in his Kanakapura constituency on Sunday, Mr. Shivakumar is signalling that the Congress is willing to accommodate local JD(S) leaders and cadre who feel sidelined after the BJP-JD(S) alliance. In the last few years, several leaders quit the JD(S) and became Congress MLAs, and this led to the sharp fall of the JD(S) seats from 37 in 2018 to 19 in the 2023 Assembly elections. Its vote share too dipped from 18.3% to 13.39% during the period.

The remark was viewed as an early political offensive by Mr. Shivakumar to achieve three objectives — further weakening the JD(S), consolidating Vokkaliga leadership under the Congress, and strengthening the Congress’s organisational base ahead of the 2028 elections. Consolidating space As the first Vokkaliga Chief Minister from the Congress in two decades, Mr. Shivakumar is seeking to emerge as the principal political leader of the community. The JD(S) has historically relied on Vokkaliga support, particularly in southern Karnataka. If even a section of the JD(S) workers shift allegiance to the Congress, it could accelerate the erosion of the JD(S)’s traditional base. The statement apparently serves as a political message to Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Coming just four days after Mr. Shivakumar assumed office, it suggests that the Congress intends to expand into areas where the JD(S) has remained influential. The timing is significant because the JD(S) is already facing pressure to retain its identity within the BJP alliance.

Amid the ongoing political slugfest between the two leaders on the Bidadi township project, the Chief Minister’s appeal to JD(S) workers was to see him as a friend rather than an adversary. He also reminded the JD(S) that the Congress had supported the former by forming an alliance in 2018 to keep the BJP out of power. Disrupting calculations The Vokkaliga leader’s elevation to the top post has the potential to disrupt the strategy of both the JD(S) and the BJP. Traditionally, the BJP’s strength has been in the Lingayat belt in North Karnataka, and it has planned to make deeper inroads into the Vokkaliga-dominated Old Mysore region in alliance with the JD(S) as well as fielding its own candidates. Shivakumar becoming the Chief Minister has apparently complicated that calculation for the Opposition. The BJP was planning to expand its footprint beyond its traditional strongholds by appointing R.