Karnataka Cabinet: On the eve of Monsoon session, the portfolios are finally allocated
After days of deliberations amidst hectic lobbying for portfolios and attempts for a final dash at a Cabinet berth by some senior Congress legislators, the
After days of deliberations amidst hectic lobbying for portfolios and attempts for a final dash at a Cabinet berth by some senior Congress legislators, the D.K. Shivakumar-led Congress Government finally managed to allocate portfolios on the eve of the Monsoon session to the 19 newly inducted Ministers. The portfolios of two senior Ministers, who had expressed ire in public over the allocation earlier, have seen changes in their portfolio. Senior Minister K.H. Muniyappa, who was earlier miffed at being continued as Food and Civil Supplies Department after he had sought Social Welfare, has managed to prevail over the party leadership. Ramalinga Reddy, who was upset at not being given Bengaluru Development and instead was given Water Resources Ministry, has been allocated Forests, Ecology and Environment. Besides, Health and Family Welfare Minister U.T. Khader has been given the additional responsibility of Minority Welfare, Haj and Wakf.
The Chief Minister has retained the Law and Parliamentary Affairs besides others unallocated portfolios. At a time when the State is facing challenges over deficit rainfall and the farming community is in distress, the Agriculture portfolio has been given to P.M. Narendraswamy, and the Major and Medium Irrigation portfolio has gone to N. Cheluvarayaswamy- incidentally, both hailing from Mandya district. Puttaranga Shetty, from Chamarajanagar district, has been allocated Animal Husbandry and Sericulture. The portfolio allocation from the Governor’s Office came on Wednesday (August 12, 2026) evening as the Ministers huddled to strategise for the Legislature session commencing on Thursday (August 13, 2026). The newly inducted Ministers with their portfolios will have their first full Cabinet meeting on Thursday (August 13, 2026) afternoon. The allocation comes even as the Government will be headed to the session without a woman Minister, though the Chief Minister has assured that the remaining one berth will be filled by a woman legislator.
The portfolio allocation took Mr. Shivakumar nearly ten days to finalise after multiple visits to Delhi, meetings with disgruntled legislators who missed out on cabinet berths and pressure from the Ministers for portfolio. Some of the Ministers have been continued in the same portfolios that they had held in the previous Government under Siddaramaiah. They include B.Z. Zameer Ahmed (Housing), Madhu Bangarappa (Primary and Secondary Education), Shivaraj Tangadagi (Backward Classes Welfare and Kannada and Culture), Santhosh Lad (Labour and Employment) and S.S. Mallikarjun (Mines and Geology). Ministers with prior experience of the portfolios — Basavaraja Raya Reddy has been given Higher Education, which he had held in Siddaramaiah’s first tenure as Chief Minister, and Laxman Savadi has been given Cooperation, a portfolio that he had managed earlier during his stint as Minister in BJP Government.
The BriefWire