Suspense over the expansion of the Karnataka Cabinet continued on Wednesday, with the Congress high command once again deferring a final decision on the list of legislators to be inducted.

Sources attributed the latest delay to senior leader Rahul Gandhi being occupied with developments in the Lok Sabha and his subsequent press conference on the NEET paper leak issue. The final approval of the list, which requires Mr. Gandhi’s clearance, is now expected on Thursday.

The decision was deferred on Tuesday after discussions between the State Congress leadership and the party high command in New Delhi failed to produce a consensus on the final list of inductees.

According to sources, the list had been largely finalised following several rounds of discussions involving AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, based on recommendations by Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and KPCC president B.K. Hariprasad.

On Tuesday, Mr. Venugopal held discussions with Mr. Shivakumar, Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Hariprasad in New Delhi on the competing claims of ministerial aspirants. Earlier in the day, he also had a brief meeting with Mr. Hariprasad.

Despite several hours of deliberations, the leaders were unable to arrive at a consensus. Discussions reportedly focused on balancing regional representation, caste and community equations, while accommodating both senior legislators and first-time aspirants. Meanwhile, several aspirants continued to camp in New Delhi.

Swearing-in

Sources said the swearing-in ceremony is now likely to be held either late on Thursday or on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Mysuru on Saturday. Also, the State legislature session is scheduled to commence on August 13, and the new Ministers require time to assume charge of their portfolios and prepare for the session.

The Karnataka Cabinet has had vacant berths for nearly two months, leading to intense lobbying by legislators and former Ministers.

The Lok Bhavan has reportedly been informed about the proposed swearing-in ceremony, which is expected to be held at the Glass House at Lok Bhavan. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, who is currently in Madhya Pradesh, is expected to return to Bengaluru by Thursday afternoon.

Sources said the possible induction of former Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan also figured during Tuesday’s discussions. While Mr. Venugopal was learnt to be in favour of his inclusion, some other leaders expressed reservations. It is also learnt that Mr. Siddaramaiah has backed the induction of MLC M.R. Seetharam, MLAs A.S. Ponnanna, Hampanagouda Badarli and Basavaraj Shivannanavar, besides former Minister R.B. Timmapur, among others.

A day after eight-time legislator Ramalinga Reddy sent his resignation being unhappy over portfolio allocation, Karnataka’s Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that all problems will be sorted out.

“Mr. Reddy is my friend. We will sort it. Don’t think too much about it,” the Chief Minister told presspersons in Bengaluru after offering floral tributes to the former chief minister Late D. Devaraj Urs on June 6. He acknowledged receiving Mr. Reddy’s resignation via WhatsApp.

He refused to reveal the outcome of the meeting late on June 5 night, or any promise made to him.

Though the Chief Minister later said ‘things have been settled’, sources close to Mr. Reddy indicate that things remain where they were. Mr. Reddy, who has expressed his unhappiness over being given water resources portfolio, is likely to meet the Congress central leadership to push for his case, as the Chief Minister has said that it was the high commands decision.

Late on Friday (June 5, 2026) night, Mr. Shivakumar met Mr. Reddy for nearly two-and-a-half hours at a private hotel in Jayanagar amid efforts by the Congress leadership to persuade the veteran leader to withdraw his resignation.

The meeting went on till the wee hours of Saturday (June 6, 2026).

“This is a family matter. We will all sit together and talk. Everything has been resolved,” Mr. Shivakumar told reporters after emerging from the meeting around 1.30 am.

“He has expressed his grievance; it was a case of miscommunication. Something has happened, and we will sort it out. Don’t worry, we will run everything first-class. We have given opportunities to all senior leaders, and we will set everything right,” Mr. Shivakumar said and expressed confidence that the government would move forward unitedly.

Emphasising his long-standing association with the senior minister, he said, “Ramalinga Reddy and I have been friends since 1980. At present, I am working as the Chief Minister; earlier, I was a Minister, and he is a Minister. We are all friends.” Mr. Reddy had announced his resignation on Friday (June 5, 2026), alleging that assurances made to him regarding the Bengaluru Development portfolio had not been honoured after the allocation of portfolios in the newly formed Shivakumar government.

Asked whether he would withdraw his resignation if the Chief Minister requested him to do so, Mr. Reddy refrained from elaborating and echoed Mr. Shivakumar’s remarks.

“I am saying the same thing that he (CM) told you. Everything has been resolved. That’s all,” Mr. Reddy said.

The late-night meeting came amid intense efforts by the Congress leadership to contain discontent within the Cabinet after Mr. Reddy’s resignation triggered the first major political challenge for the three-day-old Shivakumar-led Congress government.

After being denied the Bengaluru Development portfolio, senior Congress legislator from Bengaluru Ramalinga Reddy, who has been allocated Water Resources, sent his resignation letter to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

On Friday, in a dramatic turn of events, he signed the resignation letter in the presence of the media and displayed it. Stating that he will not personally submit his resignation that has been addressed to the Chief Minister, Mr. Reddy said he would send it through an official.

“I am unhappy and cannot work against my conscience. Hence, I am resigning. I will remain in the Congress and work as a legislator,” he said, pointing out a promise made by Mr. Shivakumar to give him the Bengaluru Development portfolio.

Brewing discontent

Discontent was brewing since Wednesday night as speculation was rife that the Bengaluru Development portfolio would go to Krishna Byre Gowda, and Mr. Reddy had also met the Chief Minister on Thursday. His resignation seems to have come after he was told that the decision on portfolios came from the central leadership that could not be changed.

The eight-time legislator, who is known to wield significant influence on voters in East and North Bengaluru, is being seen as an important figure ahead of the elections to five corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) region.

Mr. Reddy told presspersons, “I have not lobbied for a ministerial position with Mr. Shivakumar, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah or the high command. I am happy they took me into the Cabinet. Mr. Shivakumar had promised to give me Bengaluru Development. I had not asked for it. The portfolio has been denied to me twice.”

Mr. Reddy served as Transport Minister in the Siddaramaiah-led government in this term. Over decades, he has worked in governments headed by M. Veerappa Moily, S.M. Krishna, N. Dharam Singh, and Mr. Siddaramaiah.

Supporters of Mr. Reddy staged protests in BTM Layout, his constituency, expressing solidarity with the leader.

‘This is humiliation’

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Reddy said, “This is humiliation. I have served as a corporator in Bengaluru and have been elected MLA continuously. I was promised the Bengaluru Development portfolio earlier. How long can I tolerate this? What other option did I have?”

He said he did not want to blame anyone, but a promise should have been kept. “I harbour no anger against Mr. Shivakumar, Mr. Siddaramaiah or the party high command led by Mallikarjun Kharge,” he added.

Wake-up call, says Patil

Former Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil, who was not inducted into the Cabinet on Wednesday, said on X that the resignation of Ramalinga Reddy was a “wake up call.’ He wrote, “I request my friend Ramalinga Reddy again to reconsider his stand in the larger interest of the party. His resignation is a massive wake up call. I urge the relevant leaders to bestow their serious attention to resolve this matter justly.”

The much-awaited list of names of leaders to be inducted into the Cabinet, along with D.K. Shivakumar, who will be sworn in on Wednesday evening, is likely to be announced by the Congress central leadership only on Wednesday morning.

Multiple sources indicated that there could be between 10 and 15 Ministers who will be sworn in along with the Chief Minister, though agreement had not been arrived at till late on Tuesday.

Hectic parleys

While hectic parleys and lobbying that were witnessed in Delhi on Monday continued on Tuesday too, outgoing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar left Delhi on Tuesday night after giving their preferences in the Cabinet to the central leadership.

The two have been bargaining hard on Cabinet formation, creation of the Deputy Chief Minister’s post, and setting up coordination committee, among others, with the top Congress leadership.

KPCC president post

Party sources indicated that central leadership is considering a few, whose names were part of the cabinet deliberations, for the post of the president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. The final list is likely to be made available by the Congress central leadership on Wednesday morning after arriving at some consensus on the KPCC President’s post, party sources indicated.

The demand of leaders being considered for the post, that they should also be given cabinet berths, is learnt to be holding back on coming up with the final list of leaders to be sworn into the cabinet and the new president for the State unit.

DyCM post uncertain

Party leaders were tight lipped on the creation of post of deputy chief minister and the number of posts if the party decides on it, with Mr. Shivakuma continuing to resist the idea.

“After the swearing in on Wednesday, the expansion of Cabinet is likely to be done only after Rajya Sabha polls. By then the mood of the cabinet hopefuls could also be gauged. The caste and regional combinations is being worked with the preferences of both leaders,” sources said.

Multiple meetins

On Tuesday, Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar held multiple rounds of meeting with the central leadership, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal and General Secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala. The Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi met the leaders briefly on Tuesday evening. All the leaders have been having multiple meetings since Monday evening.

Meanwhile, protests were held in different parts of the State seeking deputy chief minister posts to Santhosh Lad, K.H. Muniyappa, Priyanka Kharge and Yathindra Siddaramaiah. Protests and meetins pushing for cabinet berths for Eshwar Khandre, Tanveer Sait, Hampangpowda Badarli and Asif Sait were also held. Followers of Anil Chikkamadu, Shivaraj Tangadagi and Shivalinge Gowda held special prayers and poojas.

Though the Siddaramaiah and the D.K. Shivakumar-led factions within the Congress in the State, the bonhomie they sported in public never let up. 

Even on Tuesday, when both were in the AICC office in Delhi to discuss transfer of power, they were seen discussing together. On Thursday, when Mr. Siddaramaiah eventually resigned, Mr. Shivakumar was seen touching his feet and both were clicked in a warm embrace. 

While Mr. Shivakumar never publicly commented on the supposed power sharing pact between them, Mr. Siddaramaiah always maintained that in a democracy there was nothing wrong in his deputy aspiring to be Chief Minister. 

Even when their respective supporters made public statements targeting the other, the two leaders would often diffuse tension by appearing together, raising hands to signify their unity. After a fracas over transfer of power in November, 2025, the two leaders hosted breakfast for each other, ahead of the Winter Session in Belagavi to present a united front.

Recently, Mr. Siddaramaiah speaking in the Assembly said the silk shawl he was wearing was a gift from Mr. Shivakumar. 

True to the bonhomie they have been displaying for over four years now, starting from the run up to the 2023 assembly polls, the transition of power which was feared to be messy, seems to have happened smoothly as well. 

Public recruitment in Karnataka — stalled for over a year on account of reservation issues — is scheduled to start with a new quota matrix. The Karnataka government, amid pressure from job aspirants, announced the kickstarting of the recruitment process to fill up 56,432 posts. This will be one of the largest recruitments drives by the State in recent years.

However, the new matrix has not been without resentment; it has altered the overall quantum of reservation, and has also changed the internal reservation quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

Faced with a slew of cases in the Karnataka High Court on the reservation issue, the State government has attempted to overcome the legal challenge through executive decisions. Among the key decisions is the reversal of the quantum of reservation that had been enhanced to 17% for SCs and 7% for STs through the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 2022. The enhanced quota had breached the 50% cap on reservations fixed by the Supreme Court, and cases were filed against it in the High Court. The government has now reversed the quota to 15% from 17% and 3% from 7% to SCs and STs respectively, bringing the overall quota back to the earlier 50%. The OBCs have 32% reservation quota in the State.

The reduction in ST reservation in particular has disappointed the youth among the community seeking public employment, as their opportunities will now shrink. In Karnataka, the ST list has 51 tribes of which the Nayakas remain the dominant community. Their inclusion in the list during the 1990s contributed significantly to the increase in the ST population of the State. The 2022 legislation had provided for 7% reservation, proportionate to their population, but it is now back to 3%.

Suspect silence

Curiously, leaders from the community in both the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP have not said much in public on this issue. A proposed protest rally from Chitradurga to Bengaluru by the BJP to condemn the reduction did not take off, apparently due to pressure from their high command. Though the BJP government legislated enhanced reservations in 2022, legal experts believe that it has to be brought under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to get legal protection, a task that is being seen as difficult for the National Democratic Alliance-ruled Centre. States like Tamil Nadu have been able to breach the limit by bringing their reservation matrix under the Ninth Schedule.

Within the Congress, a few Nayaka leaders believe that the party is not doing enough to protect ST interests, and also not attempting to score political points against the BJP by asserting pressure on the Centre. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah — in his list of 18 demands to Prime Minister Modi — sought the inclusion of enhanced reservation under the Ninth Schedule. But many within the party feel that this was not enough.

On the issue of sub classification among the 101 SCs, the State has come up with a new matrix — the fifth such model proposed in one and a half decades, which includes the three proposed just in the last one year. The reduction in the overall reservation to SCs to 15% has not seen much resentment. The Dalit Madiga leaders, who succeeded in stalling the recruitment process till the sub-classification was announced, have not spoken much against the reduction in the overall quantum of reservation.

The new matrix has been arrived at within the 15% cap despite the Karnataka Scheduled Castes (Sub classification) Act, 2025, receiving the Governor’s assent (yet to be notified) for internal reservation within the 17% quota.

However, 49 nomadic tribes and 10 microscopic communities, which come under the SC category, have threatened to approach the court again against the new sub classification, seeking a separate category. Though the H.N. Nagmohan Das Commission recommended a separate category for these 59 castes last year, the State government included them in Category 3 along with relatively better-off communities such as the Banjara, Korama, Koracha and Bhovi. The tangled issue of the reservation matrix in Karnataka shows no signs of getting sorted soon.