Barely hours before the swearing-in of the DK Shivakumar-led government’s expanded cabinet, the Karnataka Congress was hit by a fresh bout of infighting, with Yashwantraya Patil resigning after being denied
a ministerial berth and Belur MLA Gopalakrishna expected to follow suit.
“The party leadership has deeply hurt me. That is why I took this decision. It is not just about the cabinet; this is how the party has been functioning for some time now. That is why I decided to resign,” Yashwantraya said.
The unrest spilled into the open as more than a dozen Congress legislators gathered for a closed-door meeting at senior MLA PV Jayachandra’s residence in Bengaluru’s Dollar’s Colony on Monday. Sources said the leaders discussed their next course of action after several cabinet aspirants were left disappointed by the final list.
The meeting was attended by senior Congress leaders, including HK Patil and Dinesh Gundu Rao, according to sources. Several legislators are learnt to have expressed resentment over being overlooked despite expecting induction into the ministry.
#BreakingNews | Karnataka Congress faces fresh turmoil, say 'no space' in cabinet and 2 Congress MLAs resign
@prashanth_gs with @nabilajamal_ @harishupadhya | #Karnataka #Congress
Watch: https://t.co/aNIieODGVs pic.twitter.com/lnrrlA92HG
— News18 (@CNNnews18) August 3, 2026
Adding to the unease, senior Congress leader KH Muniyappa is also understood to be unhappy with his portfolio allocation and has sought a change, signalling that dissatisfaction within the party extends beyond those left out of the cabinet. He also had mentioned this to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the Bengaluru airport earlier this year, sources told CNN-News18.
The DK Shivakumar government’s cabinet expansion has also undergone last-minute changes, with only 19 ministers now set to take oath. Sources said Mankal Vaidya and Gayatri Chandrashekhar have been dropped from the final list, while senior Congress leader SS Mallikarjun has been inducted ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.
Reacting to the DK Shivakumar government’s cabinet expansion, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya alleged that the Congress had failed to deliver on its promises of social justice, youth empowerment and inclusive representation. He claimed the new cabinet had only one woman minister, sidelined younger leaders, offered no representation to the Brahmin community and brought back leaders facing allegations, questioning the party’s commitment to accountability.
Malviya also took aim at the composition of the new ministry, alleging that Congress had prioritised political expediency over its stated principles. Referring to the induction of B Nagendra and Zameer Ahmed Khan, he questioned the party’s standards on corruption and representation, saying the cabinet reflected “the same old politics of expediency, selective morality and broken promises.”
