By B D Narayankar 

Bengaluru, June 5

DK Shivakumar has climbed the mountain he spent years trying to scale. The oath has been taken, the celebrations have been held and the Congress has finally settled the question of succession in Karnataka. But if politics teaches anything, it is that winning power is often easier than wielding it.

The new Chief Minister enters office with a formidable reputation — as the Congress's chief troubleshooter, a relentless organiser and a leader who survived enough political storms to earn a place among the party's most influential regional satraps. Yet the challenges before him are unlike any he has faced before.
For one, he inherits power without inheriting complete control.

Though Siddaramaiah has vacated the Chief Minister's chair, his political presence continues to occupy considerable space in the corridors of power. Many members of the new cabinet owe their rise to the veteran leader and remain part of his political ecosystem. The transfer of office may be complete; the transfer of influence is another matter altogether.

The Congress leadership has presented the transition as seamless. Karnataka's political history suggests otherwise. Rivalries in Indian politics rarely end with a handshake and a photograph. They merely become more sophisticated.
Shivakumar's first task, therefore, is not defeating the Opposition but ensuring that the ruling party remains united behind him.

Then comes the caste survey — perhaps the most politically combustible file awaiting the new Chief Minister.
Accepted by the Siddaramaiah government in its final days, the survey has reopened old debates on representation, reservation and political power. Every community sees in it either an opportunity or a threat. Any decision on its implementation is likely to create winners and losers, making it a test not merely of governance but of political nerve.

For the Congress, the issue carries additional weight. A party that champions a caste census nationally can scarcely afford to look hesitant when confronted with the consequences of one in a state where it is in power.
If the caste survey is a political minefield, Bengaluru is an administrative one.

India's technology capital continues to struggle with traffic congestion, strained infrastructure and the familiar complaint that growth has outpaced planning.

Shivakumar, who has long projected himself as a builder and developer, will find that voters are less impressed by promises than by roads that work, drains that do not overflow and commutes that do not consume half a day.
The upcoming elections to the Greater Bengaluru Authority will offer the first tangible measure of public confidence in the new administration.

Yet all these challenges are merely chapters in a larger story.
The Congress did not elevate Shivakumar solely to manage a government. It elevated him to win an election.
Karnataka has not developed a habit of rewarding incumbents. For nearly four decades, voters have alternated between parties with remarkable consistency. Breaking that pattern and securing a second successive term for the Congress in 2028 remains the real prize.

That objective explains much of the political arithmetic behind the transition. Shivakumar is expected to consolidate Vokkaliga support while retaining the broader coalition of backward classes, Dalits and minorities that powered the Congress to victory in 2023. It is a balancing act easier described than accomplished.

There is an old truth in politics: ambition gets a leader to the top, performance keeps him there.
For years, Shivakumar's story was about the struggle to become Chief Minister. Beginning this week, it becomes a story about something more difficult — whether he can govern effectively, manage competing centres of power and persuade Karnataka's voters to give the Congress something they have denied every government for decades: a second chance.

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Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said there was no opposition to the caste survey or Social and Educational Survey report during a special meeting of the state cabinet convened to discuss it on Thursday, 17 April.

He also denied that there were heated arguments among the ministers and said no one spoke with their voices raised, as reported by a section of the media.

“Yesterday, it [caste survey report] was discussed in the cabinet, it was incomplete, and it has been posted for another day. The subject will be discussed in the next cabinet. No one has opposed it,” Siddaramaiah said.

Deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar repeated this while speaking to reporters in Bengaluru separately. He said, “We shared thoughts, that’s all. Speaking in raised voices or arguments, nothing of that sort happened. Suggestions were given. Other than that nothing was decided.”

The cabinet discussed the parameters used for the survey, and sought more information and technical details from senior officials, law and parliament affairs minister H.K. Patil said on Thursday after the meeting. The cabinet will now discuss the report on 2 May.

The state cabinet had accepted the 50-volume report on 11 April, nearly a decade after the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes completed the survey.

Among other things, the report proposes an increase in reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) from the existing 32 per cent to 51 per cent. This would result in total reservation in the state going up to 85 per cent, including 10 per cent for the economically weaker sections (EWS) and 24 per cent for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).

According to sources, after some ministers expressed reservations about the report, Siddaramaiah asked everyone to give their opinion either in writing or verbally.

Various communities, especially Karnataka’s land-owning and politically dominant Vokkaligas and Veershaiva-Lingayats, have expressed “strong reservations” and demanded that a fresh survey be conducted.

With strong disapproval from the two politically influential communities, the survey report may turn out to be a political hot potato for the government, as it may set the stage for a confrontation, with Dalits and some sections of OBCs among others, demanding for it to be made public and implemented.