For the first time, Karnataka’s top decision-making body is set to take its political and administrative proceedings to the state’s coastal region. Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s government will hold a Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru on September 18. While the decision is administrative in nature, it carries a much broader political message, particularly with the 2028 Assembly elections in mind. The DKS-led government completed 100 days in office on Thursday.
Karnataka Cabinet meetings have traditionally been held in Bengaluru, with very few instances of them being moved elsewhere. The September 18 meeting will mark the first time that the state’s highest decision-making body will convene in Dakshina Kannada district. The decision is particularly important for the Congress, which has struggled for decades to establish itself in the coastal region because of the strong presence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological backbone of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Coastal Karnataka has long been regarded as the RSS’s “Hindutva laboratory”, where ideological mobilisation gained an early and strong foothold before expanding to other parts of Karnataka and beyond. With the 2028 Assembly election approaching, the decision to hold the Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru suggests that Shivakumar is looking to challenge the BJP’s long-standing ideological influence and electoral advantage in the region.
Dakshina Kannada and Udupi are often referred to as South India’s Hindutva laboratory because the RSS and its affiliated organisations have spent decades building their grassroots network there.
The Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi in 1975 also played an important role in strengthening the RSS in coastal Karnataka. The organisation capitalised on opposition to the Congress as public dissatisfaction grew and people mobilised against the Emergency.
This history makes Shivakumar’s decision to take the Cabinet to Mangaluru politically significant. The Congress is not merely moving governance beyond Bengaluru; it appears to be taking its political challenge directly into one of the BJP’s strongest electoral regions. The move comes at a time when political calculations for the 2028 Assembly elections are already taking shape.
Although the September 18 meeting is officially focused on development, administrative decisions often have political implications. Holding the DKS government’s first Cabinet meeting in Dakshina Kannada is aimed at increasing visibility, strengthening outreach and challenging an electoral equation that has remained largely unchanged for almost three decades.
Udupi was separated from the undivided Dakshina Kannada district in August 1997, resulting in the current two-district coastal configuration. Dakshina Kannada has eight Assembly constituencies, while Udupi has five.
In the 2023 Assembly elections, the BJP won all five seats in Udupi and six of Dakshina Kannada’s eight constituencies, while the Congress secured the remaining two. Overall, the BJP won 11 of the 13 Assembly seats in the two districts.
For almost three decades, the BJP has generally dominated the two coastal districts, with 2013 being the major exception, when the Congress captured 10 of the 13 seats.
As the 2028 Assembly election approaches, this is the political fortress Shivakumar is attempting to penetrate. The Siddaramaiah factor is among the key elements influencing his strategy.
For the past three decades, the BJP's dominance across the Assembly constituencies of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi has been evident. The table uses election data from 2004 onward to avoid confusion, as several constituencies were renamed, reorganised or restructured. (AI illustration/Avinash Kateel)
DK SHIVAKUMAR'S COASTAL OUTREACH IS A POLITICAL NECESSITY FOR CONGRESS
The timing of these developments is significant. The Congress came to power in 2023 after winning 135 Assembly seats, marking a major turnaround following years of BJP expansion across Karnataka. A substantial part of that victory was driven by the social coalition associated with Siddaramaiah and the Congress’s AHINDA politics.
However, the party’s political structure has evolved since then. Siddaramaiah’s departure from the Chief Minister’s post and his subsequent return to prominence through social justice and AHINDA politics have introduced another variable into Congress politics. Recent developments surrounding Siddaramaiah have once again placed the AHINDA bloc — a Kannada term referring collectively to minorities, backward classes and Dalits — at the heart of Karnataka’s political discourse.
For Shivakumar, therefore, the 2028 election is not merely about protecting the Congress’s 2023 tally. He also needs to identify fresh electoral opportunities before the party potentially loses support among sections of the AHINDA coalition that are unhappy after Siddaramaiah was asked to step down as Chief Minister.
This makes coastal Karnataka an especially interesting target for Shivakumar and the Congress.
“BJP has a stronghold in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi for around 30 years. The upcoming Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru is one step DKS is taking to appeal to voters in a region that has consistently chosen the BJP,” Bengaluru-based senior journalist and Asianet Suvarna News Political Editor Prashanth Natu told India Today Digital.
Natu, who also writes the India Gate weekly column for Kannada Prabha, said Shivakumar is looking to bring down the BJP’s seat tally in 2028 and is attempting to do so in what has traditionally been one of the party’s strongest Hindutva bastions.
SOFT HINDUTVA TO WOOING LINGAYATS: DKS SERIOUSLY WANTS TO DAMAGE BJP
Shivakumar’s strategy becomes even more significant when considered alongside his own soft-Hindutva image, which has been criticised by the BJP in the context of Rahul Gandhi’s national political ideology.
“On one end, the Congress government led by DKS is trying to gain the votes of the Lingayats, who traditionally support the BJP due to the leadership of BS Yediyurappa. On the other hand, DKS is trying to hunt the BJP's Hindutva votes of Dakshina Kannada,” Natu told India Today Digital.
In effect, Shivakumar’s 2028 strategy could see him challenge the BJP on two fronts — by attempting to win over Lingayat voters, Karnataka’s most influential community, and by making inroads into the 13 Assembly constituencies of coastal Karnataka that have remained BJP strongholds for decades.
In central and northern Karnataka, the Congress has reason to target sections of the Lingayat electorate that have traditionally leaned towards the BJP, particularly under the influence of former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. The situation on the coast is different, however, because the BJP’s strength there is closely tied to Hindutva mobilisation and a deeply established organisational network.
The Congress does not necessarily need to completely transform coastal Karnataka into its own stronghold. Even shifting a small portion of the BJP’s vote could be politically significant by turning some of the BJP’s easy victories into closely fought contests.
This is essentially the seat-cannibalisation strategy Shivakumar appears to be pursuing. Natu, who closely follows Karnataka politics, believes the Congress is attempting to capitalise on any anti-incumbency sentiment that may exist against BJP MLAs in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.
Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar attended a preliminary meeting of the Karavali Karnataka Tourism Conclave at a private hotel in Mangaluru in January. (Image: @DKShivakumar/X)
NOT ONE MEETING: DKS HAS A LONG TERM PLAN FOR COASTAL KARNATAKA
Shivakumar appears to recognise that ideological confrontation alone will not be enough to dismantle a political network that has been built over decades. As a result, development is emerging as a key part of his pitch to coastal Karnataka.
The September Cabinet meeting could be used to announce a series of decisions and development measures for Dakshina Kannada and the broader coastal region. The state government has already directed departments to identify proposals related to coastal Karnataka that can be considered during the Mangaluru meeting.
Tourism is an important component of this approach. Earlier this year, when Shivakumar was Deputy Chief Minister, he announced plans for a dedicated tourism policy for the coastal belt.
The Karnataka Tourism Department has now outlined the coastal tourism initiative as a Rs 1,260-crore roadmap under the “Brand Karavali” vision.
For an area where Hindutva has become a powerful part of the political identity, the Congress needs to introduce an alternative narrative. Employment, tourism, infrastructure and economic opportunities could provide the party with a way to gain support in areas that have traditionally been BJP strongholds.
UT Khader (R), Karnataka's Health and Family Welfare Minister, is the only Cabinet minister from the coastal Karnataka region in the state government led by Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. (Image: PTI)
CAN DK SHIVAKUMAR BREAK THE HINDUTVA LAB OF RSS?
It is too early to determine whether Shivakumar can achieve this. Coastal Karnataka is unlike an ordinary electoral battleground. The BJP’s influence there is not simply based on routine five-year anti-incumbency cycles. It has been developed over decades through ideological networks, social organisations and a deeply rooted local political structure.
Speaking to India Today Digital, Natu said Shivakumar’s unusually strong focus on the region could nevertheless benefit the Congress.
“Being a highly polarised region electorally, no political party leader has concentrated on Dakshina Kannada like DKS. This might help Congress gain some ground in the region and there is also a 2013 precedence,” he said.
That may be the central political calculation behind holding the Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru.
Shivakumar may not expect to completely redraw the coastal political map overnight. Instead, he appears to be assessing whether the BJP’s 11-seat stronghold can be weakened before the 2028 elections.
The Congress cannot assume that the electoral formula that worked in 2023 will automatically deliver the same results again. The Siddaramaiah factor is evolving, the AHINDA issue is returning to the political forefront, and Shivakumar needs to build an electoral coalition that reflects his own political strategy.
Coastal Karnataka could provide one possible route. If the Congress combines development-focused politics with a stronger organisational presence, even a few seats changing hands could substantially alter the political picture ahead of the 2028 election.
The September 18 Cabinet meeting, therefore, represents more than simply holding a government meeting outside Bengaluru. It signals Shivakumar’s attempt to enter a political stronghold that the Congress has struggled to penetrate for decades. And if the 2028 election becomes a contest over who shapes Karnataka’s political future, DKS appears to have concluded that the path towards that future runs first through the BJP’s long-standing Hindutva laboratory.
