diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/settings/ClusterSettings.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/settings/ClusterSettings.java
index f769f8729c25b..0afe8617e156f 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/settings/ClusterSettings.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/settings/ClusterSettings.java
@@ -276,6 +276,7 @@ public void apply(Settings value, Settings current, Settings previous) {
                 BalancedShardsAllocator.THRESHOLD_SETTING,
                 BalancedShardsAllocator.IGNORE_THROTTLE_FOR_REMOTE_RESTORE,
                 BalancedShardsAllocator.ALLOCATOR_TIMEOUT_SETTING,
+                BalancedShardsAllocator.FOLLOW_UP_REROUTE_PRIORITY_SETTING,
                 BreakerSettings.CIRCUIT_BREAKER_LIMIT_SETTING,
                 BreakerSettings.CIRCUIT_BREAKER_OVERHEAD_SETTING,
                 BreakerSettings.CIRCUIT_BREAKER_TYPE,
@@ -353,6 +354,7 @@ public void apply(Settings value, Settings current, Settings previous) {
                 ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator.GATEWAY_ALLOCATOR_BATCH_SIZE,
                 ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator.PRIMARY_BATCH_ALLOCATOR_TIMEOUT_SETTING,
                 ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator.REPLICA_BATCH_ALLOCATOR_TIMEOUT_SETTING,
+                ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator.FOLLOW_UP_REROUTE_PRIORITY_SETTING,
                 PersistedClusterStateService.SLOW_WRITE_LOGGING_THRESHOLD,
                 NetworkModule.HTTP_DEFAULT_TYPE_SETTING,
                 NetworkModule.TRANSPORT_DEFAULT_TYPE_SETTING,
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator.java
index da00a0fb686d3..8e63133e87806 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator.java
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ public class ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator implements ExistingShardsAllocator {
 
     private TimeValue primaryShardsBatchGatewayAllocatorTimeout;
     private TimeValue replicaShardsBatchGatewayAllocatorTimeout;
+    private volatile Priority followUpRerouteTaskPriority;
     public static final TimeValue MIN_ALLOCATOR_TIMEOUT = TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(20);
     private final ClusterManagerMetrics clusterManagerMetrics;
 
@@ -145,6 +147,32 @@ public void validate(TimeValue timeValue) {
         Setting.Property.Dynamic
     );
 
+    /**
+     * Adjusts the priority of the followup reroute task when current round times out. NORMAL is right for reasonable clusters,
+     * but for a cluster in a messed up state which is starving NORMAL priority tasks, it might be necessary to raise this higher
+     * to allocate existing shards.
+     */
+    public static final Setting<Priority> FOLLOW_UP_REROUTE_PRIORITY_SETTING = new Setting<>(
+        "cluster.routing.allocation.shards_batch_gateway_allocator.schedule_reroute.priority",
+        Priority.NORMAL.toString(),
+        ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator::parseReroutePriority,
+        Setting.Property.NodeScope,
+        Setting.Property.Dynamic
+    );
+
+    private static Priority parseReroutePriority(String priorityString) {
+        final Priority priority = Priority.valueOf(priorityString.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT));
+        switch (priority) {
+            case NORMAL:
+            case HIGH:
+            case URGENT:
+                return priority;
+        }
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+            "priority [" + priority + "] not supported for [" + FOLLOW_UP_REROUTE_PRIORITY_SETTING.getKey() + "]"
+        );
+    }
+
     private final RerouteService rerouteService;
     private final PrimaryShardBatchAllocator primaryShardBatchAllocator;
     private final ReplicaShardBatchAllocator replicaShardBatchAllocator;
@@ -179,6 +207,8 @@ public ShardsBatchGatewayAllocator(
         this.replicaShardsBatchGatewayAllocatorTimeout = REPLICA_BATCH_ALLOCATOR_TIMEOUT_SETTING.get(settings);
         clusterSettings.addSettingsUpdateConsumer(REPLICA_BATCH_ALLOCATOR_TIMEOUT_SETTING, this::setReplicaBatchAllocatorTimeout);
         this.clusterManagerMetrics = clusterManagerMetrics;
+        setFollowUpRerouteTaskPriority(FOLLOW_UP_REROUTE_PRIORITY_SETTING.get(settings));
+        clusterSettings.addSettingsUpdateConsumer(FOLLOW_UP_REROUTE_PRIORITY_SETTING, this::setFollowUpRerouteTaskPriority);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -309,7 +339,7 @@ public void onComplete() {
                         assert rerouteService != null;
                         rerouteService.reroute(
                             "reroute after existing shards allocator [P] timed out",
-                            Priority.NORMAL,
+                            followUpRerouteTaskPriority,
                             ActionListener.wrap(
                                 r -> logger.trace("reroute after existing shards allocator timed out completed"),
                                 e -> logger.debug("reroute after existing shards allocator timed out failed", e)
@@ -344,7 +374,7 @@ public void onComplete() {
                         assert rerouteService != null;
                         rerouteService.reroute(
                             "reroute after existing shards allocator [R] timed out",
-                            Priority.NORMAL,
+                            followUpRerouteTaskPriority,
                             ActionListener.wrap(
                                 r -> logger.trace("reroute after existing shards allocator timed out completed"),
                                 e -> logger.debug("reroute after existing shards allocator timed out failed", e)
@@ -920,4 +950,8 @@ protected void setPrimaryBatchAllocatorTimeout(TimeValue primaryShardsBatchGatew
     protected void setReplicaBatchAllocatorTimeout(TimeValue replicaShardsBatchGatewayAllocatorTimeout) {
         this.replicaShardsBatchGatewayAllocatorTimeout = replicaShardsBatchGatewayAllocatorTimeout;
     }
+
+    private void setFollowUpRerouteTaskPriority(Priority followUpRerouteTaskPriority) {
+        this.followUpRerouteTaskPriority = followUpRerouteTaskPriority;
+    }
 }