From a student activist in Kanakapura to becoming Karnataka's 25th Chief Minister, D K Shivakumar's four-decade-long journey is marked by turbulence, triumphs and unflinching loyalty to the Congress party.
The 64-year-old leader survived electoral setbacks, imprisonment and endured a protracted struggle to reach the top post, he had long coveted.
Shivakumar emerged as a leading contender for the chief minister's post after the Congress swept the 2023 Assembly elections with 134 seats.
However, the party leadership eventually chose Siddaramaiah, appointing Shivakumar as Deputy Chief Minister while entrusting him with key portfolios and allowing him to continue as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president.
Almost immediately, reports surfaced of a power-sharing arrangement in which Siddaramaiah would lead the government during the first half of the term before making way for Shivakumar.
Shivakumar's career has been defined as much by endurance as by electoral success.
He entered the legislature in 1989 at the young age of 27 and went on to win eight consecutive Assembly elections, an achievement few Karnataka politicians can match.
His first ministerial stint was in the S Bangarappa government where he held the prison portfolio.
The then Chief Minister Bangarappa predicted that Shivakumar would hold the highest political office in the state one day.
Over the years, he consolidated his position as the Congress party's most influential Vokkaliga leader and became indispensable to the party's organisational machinery.
His reputation as the Congress' "troubleshooter" was cemented in 2017 when the party assigned him the politically sensitive task of housing and safeguarding 42 Gujarat Congress MLAs in Bengaluru ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.
The operation ensured the victory of Congress candidate Ahmed Patel and elevated Shivakumar's standing within the party's national leadership.
Shivakumar spent 50 days in Delhi's Tihar Jail, a period many observers believed could weaken his influence within the Congress.
However, his stature within the party appeared to grow.
Recognising his organisational abilities, the Congress leadership appointed him Karnataka Congress president in 2020, at a time when the party was facing one of its lowest phases in the state.
The turnaround came in 2023 when the Congress stormed back to power with a decisive mandate.
He followed that by helping improve the party's Lok Sabha tally in Karnataka from one seat in 2019 to nine seats in 2024.
Political observers say those electoral successes significantly strengthened his claim to the chief minister's post.
