Overview

• On May 9, the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms under CM Siddaramaiah reassigned five PWD chief engineers to the Water Resources Department without consulting Deputy CM Shivakumar.
• In a May 13 letter to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh, Shivakumar insisted the transfer orders be withdrawn immediately and warned against any future moves without his explicit consent.
• Shivakumar highlighted a shortage of engineers in his portfolio and argued that unapproved repostings undermine both departmental operations and ministerial authority.
• The Chief Secretary has not responded to Shivakumar’s directive and Siddaramaiah has remained publicly silent on the dispute.
• BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra has cast the standoff as a sign of a broader political realignment, noting Siddaramaiah’s recent outreach to Congress MLC B.K. Hariprasad.