Trouble has struck the D.K. Shivakumar-led Karnataka government within 48 hours of being sworn in, with a cabinet minister tendering his resignation and another senior minister expressing displeasure over portfolio allocation.
Water resources minister Ramalinga Reddy resigned from the cabinet on Friday over the denial of the Bengaluru development portfolio.
A miffed Reddy had walked out of a meeting held on Thursday night where Shivakumar allocated portfolios to 13 ministers. A Congress source told The Telegraph that Reddy wanted the Bengaluru development portfolio and decided to step down when he was handed water resources instead.
According to Reddy, Shivakumar and his predecessor Siddaramaiah had in 2023 promised him the Bengaluru development portfolio at the next cabinet shuffle.
“Shivakumar had come to my house ahead of the swearing-in. He told me that I will be given Bengaluru development. He offered it on his own, and I agreed,” Reddy said.
Asked whether he would reconsider his resignation if persuaded by the party leadership or offered the portfolio he wanted, Reddy replied with a firm “no”.
Currently, the Bengaluru development portfolio is manned by Krishna Byre Gowda.
Reddy is said to have decided to remain an MLA and not take up any portfolio offered by Shivakumar.
Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru that he would speak to Reddy. “Ramalinga Reddy is an important leader and very dear to me. I will speak with him. He is not from a rural area. He has been given the water resources ministry, but he wishes to work in the urban region,” Shivakumar said.
Food and civil supplies and consumer affairs minister K.H. Muniyappa has also expressed discontent over his portfolios, saying seniority had not been given due consideration. Muniyappa wanted to be the social welfare or agriculture minister. “Seniority has not been maintained. Ramalinga Reddy has won eight times. I have won eight times. There are others who have won seven, six and five times. All this has to be looked at in a balanced manner,” he said in Bengaluru.
