Lessons in Politics Podcast

In Karnataka politics, there is a man who does not make a big move until he has spoken to his astrologer. The astrologer's name is Dwarakanath, and over twenty-five years his counsel has sat quietly behind some of the most consequential decisions in the state. The most famous piece of advice he ever gave was just three words long: if you want power, snatch it.The man who took that advice is Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar — today on the verge of becoming Chief Minister, and for decades the most relentless operator in the state's Congress. To understand how he got here, it helps to start with a horoscope. Not his own, but that of the leader he chose to build: Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna, the urbane, London-educated lawyer whom Shivakumar would lift to the chief minister's chair. The story is often simplified into a single prophecy — an astrologer studying Krishna's chart, finding a Rajayoga said to confer high office, and declaring him destined to rule. The truth is more interesting. The astrologer was real, and the faith placed in him was real. But the chart that mattered most was never Krishna's. It was Shivakumar's. The astrology that shaped these events ran not from a verdict on Krishna to Krishna's rise, but through Shivakumar's own decisions — his backing of Krishna, his manoeuvres for himself, his lifelong habit of consulting the heavens before committing to the ground. The horoscope shaped the kingmaker long before it shaped the king. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thepoliticsin.substack.com