5 min readBengaluruJun 6, 2026 05:22 AM IST
First published on: Jun 5, 2026 at 09:52 AM IST
The newly formed Cabinet of Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar faced discontent Friday with Ramalinga Reddy, an eight-time Congress MLA from Bengaluru, resigning as a minister after being denied the Bengaluru development portfolio, which has been given to a younger party MLA Krishna Byre Gowda.
There were speculations since Thursday – a day after the new CM and his 13-member Cabinet were sworn in – that Reddy, 72, was unhappy over his portfolio. On Friday morning, he announced that he had sent his resignation to Shivakumar after being named the Water Resources and Irrigation Minister.
“I am upset (over the portfolio). I cannot work against my conscience and have given my resignation. I will remain in the Congress and will remain an MLA,” he announced.
The resignation drama has unfolded on a day when Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi are in Bengaluru for the filing of Kharge’s nomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election.
Shivakumar said he would “sort it out” and added that “discipline is important”. “He (Reddy) is not from a rural area. He has been given the portfolio of irrigation. He feels he should work for the welfare of the urban sector. I will speak to him. He is a great friend and an important leader. I will sort it out. Discipline is important,” the CM said.
This is the second time Reddy has been unhappy with his portfolio. He had expressed a similar desire to quit the Cabinet in 2023, soon after the Congress came to power with Siddaramaiah as the CM. Reddy was initially promised the Bengaluru city portfolio but was later given the Transport and Muzrai ministry.
At the time, then Deputy CM and state Congress chief Shivakumar convinced Reddy that he would be given the Bengaluru portfolio when the former becomes the CM.
“In 2023, when Siddaramaiah became the CM, I did not ask to be made a minister. He called me and told me of my appointment. I was told that I would be given the Bangalore portfolio by Byrathi Suresh (an MLA and close associate of Siddaramaiah). When the portfolios were announced, I was entrusted with the transport ministry,” he added.
“I inquired why this had happened. They told me it had been changed for various reasons. Later, I said that I would not like to be in the Cabinet. However, the current CM Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh came to my house and said that after two and a half years, when Shivakumar becomes the Chief Minister, the portfolio would be handed over to me,” he said.
The Bengaluru development portfolio is considered influential and lucrative owing to the huge funds available for the capital’s development. A powerful politician-contractor lobby controls the city’s affairs, and several long-term Bengaluru MLAs have entrenched interests in the city’s contracts, ranging from garbage disposal to the asphalting of roads.
When Shivakumar was the minister in charge of Bengaluru development from 2023 to 2026, a Rs 40,000-crore solid waste management contract, spread over 30 years, was finalised. This drew criticism from the Opposition leaders, including the BJP’s Union minister Shobha Karandlaje. The politician-contractor nexus in Bengaluru is considered a key factor in the city’s poll outcomes. With the newly created Greater Bengaluru Authority set to hold polls for the city councils in the next two years, after a lapse of over five years, city satraps like Reddy are considered key to the Congress’s prospects in several areas.
Another veteran Congress leader, K H Muniyappa, who is a seven-term MP and two-time MLA, has also expressed disgruntlement about being given the Food and Civil Supplies portfolio for a second successive time. “I am not inclined to take up the Food and Civil Supplies portfolio. As a senior leader I should be given the unallocated Social Welfare or Agriculture portfolio,” Muniyappa, 78, said.
He has, however, not expressed any intent to stay out of the Shivakumar Cabinet, also participating in government meetings Friday. Muniyappa was asked by the Congress leadership to also consider his daughter Roopakala Shashidhar, 46, for a Cabinet berth but he chose himself to be a part of the Shivakumar ministry.
The Congress dispensation has named Bengaluru MLA and former revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda, 54, as the new Bengaluru development minister. As an emerging leader, he is considered a “threat” to entrenched Congress players.
“The onus of developing Bengaluru lies not only with the government but also with the people in the city,” Byre Gowda said, refusing to be drawn into the controversy over Reddy’s demand for the Bengaluru
portfolio.
Sources said Reddy had been adamant about getting the Bengaluru Development portfolio, which he was denied. (Screengrab) 
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