# Shivakumar predicts bigger Congress win, Rahul Gandhi as PM in 2029 2026-08-26T09:52:46+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has predicted that the Congress will return to power in the state with an even bigger mandate and could win 20 Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka. He also said the party would form the central government in 2029 with Rahul Gandhi as prime minister. Speaking at the India Today Roundtable Conference, Shivakumar attributed his political success to hard work, determination, discipline and dedication. He rejected comparisons with Amit Shah, saying he remains a simple party worker. The chief minister also expressed confidence that Karnataka will play a key role in strengthening the Congress nationally. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Shivakumar's projection of 20 Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka is ambitious given that the Congress won only nine of the state's 28 seats in the 2024 general election, with the BJP-JD(S) alliance taking 19. The chief minister's claim aligns with the party's broader 2029 strategy of positioning Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial face, but Karnataka's electoral history shows that assembly and Lok Sabha voting patterns often diverge. The state has not given a single party 20 or more Lok Sabha seats since 2009, when the BJP won 19. Whether Shivakumar can replicate his assembly coalition-building success at the national level will depend on caste alignments and the performance of the state's welfare schemes over the next three years. The party faces its first real test in the 2028 assembly elections, due by early that year. ## Coverage - indiatoday.in Leads with Shivakumar's confident forecast and frames it as a straightforward political prediction without independent verification or counterpoint This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: DK Shivakumar, India Today, Indian National Congress, Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/shivakumar-predicts-bigger-congress-win-rahul-gandhi-as-pm-in-2029/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/shivakumar-predicts-bigger-congress-win-rahul-gandhi-as-pm-in-2029/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/