Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and DCM Dr G Parameshwara held a meeting of cabinet colleagues and senior leaders at Home Office Krishna in Bengaluru on August 12, 2026.

| Photo Credit:

TH

The Karnataka government led by Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar on Wednesday allocated portfolios to the expanded Council of Ministers following consultations with the Congress high command. The allocation comes a week after new ministers were inducted into the Cabinet and a day ahead of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly’s monsoon session, which begins on Thursday.Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has retained Finance, Cabinet Affairs, Personnel & Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information, Law, Justice & Human Rights, Parliamentary Affairs & Legislation, Agriculture Marketing, Town & Country Planning, and urban local bodies under the BDA/BMRDA. All unallocated portfolios will also remain with the Chief Minister.B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, who earlier held Housing and Minority Welfare, has now retained Housing, while Ramalinga Reddy, who previously handled Transport, has been given Forests, Ecology & Environment.Lakshman Savadi has been assigned Co-operation, excluding Agriculture Marketing, while Rudrappa Manappa Lamani will oversee Sugar & Textiles. K.H. Muniyappa has been allocated Social Welfare, and Shivaraj Tangadagi will handle Backward Classes Welfare and Kannada & Culture.U.T. Khader will oversee Minority Welfare, Haj & Wakf, and Health & Family Welfare, while Dr Ajay Singh will handle Minor Irrigation and Science & Technology. Madhu Bangarappa will handle Primary & Secondary Education, while Basavaraj Rayareddy has been given Higher Education. Shivalinge Gowda will take charge of Excise, which has been moved out of the Finance portfolio.Santosh Lad has been given Labour & Employment, while Rizwan Arshad will handle Food & Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, among other appointments.Narendra Swamy has been allocated agriculture; H.C. Balakrishna will oversee Municipal Administration, and B. Nagendra has been given Planning & Statistics.Statewide bandhMeanwhile, Karnataka is bracing for a statewide bandh on Thursday, August 13, from 6 am to 6 pm, called by Kannada Okkuta led by veteran Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj, with support from pro-Kannada and farmers’ organisations.The protest is centred on the Cauvery water dispute and demands progress on irrigation projects, including Mekedatu, Mahadayi and Kalasa-Banduri.The bandh comes after the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Tuesday endorsed the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s direction requiring Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of Cauvery water a day to Tamil Nadu for 15 days from August 12.Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay had on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking directions on Karnataka’s release of Cauvery water, arguing that the state was facing a significant shortfall in its stipulated share. Vijay had also sought a meeting with Shivakumar over the issue and opposed the proposed Mekedatu dam.At the mandated rate, Karnataka would have to release approximately 15.55 TMC ft of water over 15 days, based on the conversion of 11,574 cusecs flowing for 24 hours being equivalent to one TMC ft.Farmer groups have opposed the release order. The Federation of Farmers’ Organisations and the State Sugarcane Growers’ Association held a demonstration in Mysuru on Tuesday, with federation president Kurubur Shanthakumar criticising the CWRC directive and arguing that water was already flowing into Tamil Nadu and that additional releases would put further pressure on Karnataka’s water resources.Published on August 12, 2026