Shivakumar’s elevation as Karnataka CM poses an existential challenge to the JD(S).

Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar during a press meet in Bengaluru on Thursday, May 28, 2026. | Photo credit: Sudhakara Jain

The changing of the guard in Karnataka’s Congress-led government is shaping up to be an existential challenge for the Janata Dal (Secular), with the party leadership mulling some dramatic decisions, including Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s possible full-time return to state politics.

For the JD(S), the elevation of DK Shivakumar to Mr. Kumaraswamy is seen as politically disadvantageous as both leaders belong to the Vokkaliga community and are engaged in a decades-long struggle for community influence, especially in the Old Mysore region of the state.

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Minority voters, who were earlier part of the JD(S) and Congress vote bank, later largely shifted to the Congress under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s AHINDA combination of Backward Classes, Minorities and Dalits, along with the JD(S)’s move to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

This gradual consolidation of the JD(S) voter base by the Congress comes as the 2028 Karnataka Assembly elections are due.

Party sources said Mr Kumaraswamy may decide to give up his ministerial berth in 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 in 2024 on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket.

“The next assembly elections will be existential for the JD(S) anyway, but with DK Shivakumar as chief minister, after a long Vokkaliga, the challenge is bigger. Kumaranna (HD Kumaraswamy) may give his ministerial berth to Dr CN Manjunath and return to state politics,” said a senior party source.

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

The Siddaramaiah cabinet approved the acquisition of 7,481 acres covering nine villages, most of the land belonging to small farmers. According to some estimates, more than 8,600 farmers owning less than an acre fall under the proposed acquisition area, while 1,900 own just over an acre. Only one landowner, each reportedly owning 10 to 20 acres and 20 to 30 acres in the area.

Mr. Deve Gowda has already written to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress Parliamentary Party President Sonia Gandhi in this regard.

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

Published – 29 May 2026 15:06 IST