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Published Nov 04, 2025 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 04, 2025 | 7:00 AM
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar greeting the participants of the meeting organised by the Karnataka Bihar Samaj at Byatarayanapura in Bengaluru on 2 November. (X)
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s intention was clear: the victory of the Mahagathbandhan in the two-phase elections to the Bihar Assembly, scheduled for 6 and 11 November.
With the politically noble aim of making Tejashwi Yadav the chief minister of the North Indian state, Shivakumar met people of Bihar origin in Bengaluru at the Coffee Board Layout in Byatarayanapura on Sunday, 2 November.
The suave Shivakumar — also the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee — did impress the gathering. The outcome, however, was not exactly what Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wanted.
Those who attended the event opened up their minds after the meeting. Whatever the outcome of the Bihar polls, they wanted Shivakumar to be the chief minister of Karnataka. They even assured him of their community’s support.
“We wish to see you as the chief minister. Though we are from Bihar, the entire state of Bihar supports you,” they said.
The unexpected support came even as political corridors have been speaking about a possible change of power in the state, which would see Shivakumar at the helm of affairs. Both Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah have been dismissing such a possibility.
Shivakumar did not disappoint his audience. Calling them “hardworking”, he said, “Many of them reside here and speak Kannada. While many of them have their votes here, some have retained their votes there (in Bihar). I have come here to appeal to them to vote for the Mahagathbandhan,” he said.
He then went beyond the appeal. The deputy chief minister promised to speak to the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) about the absence of an office and a common meeting place for Biharis in Bengaluru.
Further, he appealed to businesses and commercial establishments in the city to grant their employees from Bihar three to four days of leave, so that they could visit home and vote for the Mahagathbandhan.
