Why D K Shivakumar is a real hero in Congress

For the Congress the hero of the day was D K Shivakumar. He pulled off another trick in keeping the flock of not just the Congress, but the JD(S) also together. This is his second such performance in the past couple of months, the last one being when he sheltered the MLAs from Gujarat.

Each time there is a crisis in the Congress and MLAs have to be shielded the go to man has always been D K Shivakumar. When the Gujarat MLAs had to be protected from poaching ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections in which Ahmed Patel was contesting, the job was given to D K Shivakumar. He carted the MLAs to the Eagleton resort in Bidadi near Bengaluru. He ensured that the MLAs were kept safe from poaching. During this period, he was even raided by the Income Tax Department, but that did not deter him and he did his job and kept the MLAs safe. In the aftermath of the Karnataka elections with the BJP staking a claim, the job of protecting both the Congress and JD(S) MLAs was given to him. He first moved the MLAs to Eagleton.

This time the job was tougher as the BJP seemed desperate to get the numbers. Shivakumar strategised everything and even moved the MLAs out of Bengaluru after security at Eagleton was withdrawn. At first he made it appear as though the MLAs were being taken to Kerala. However late into the night, he changed the plan and said that the MLAs of both his party and JD(S) would be shifted to Hyderabad. Even as the MLAs were approaching Hyderabad, he made them change the bus due to security reasons. Once at Hyderabad, he made the MLAs change the hotel once again again due to security reasons. Till the very end, he kept the flock together and ensured that not a single MLA of both the parties went with the BJP. B S Yeddyurappa addressed the assembly on Saturday and resigned without taking the trust vote.