diff --git a/vars/createKubernetesCluster.groovy b/vars/createKubernetesCluster.groovy
index a1a2bde..5ef69f9 100644
--- a/vars/createKubernetesCluster.groovy
+++ b/vars/createKubernetesCluster.groovy
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 def call(Map config) {
     // note that I can't define this outside the function as there's no global scope in Groovy
     def defaultConfig = [
+      branch: "master",
       nodes: 1,
       name: "kind-ci"
     ]
@@ -58,7 +59,11 @@
       if [ "\$HOSTARCH" == "x86_64" ]; then
           HOSTARCH="amd64"
       fi
-      VC_VERSION="\$(curl --fail -sSL https://api.github.com/repos/opencord/voltctl/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name | sed -e 's/^v//g')"
+      if [ "${cfg.branch}" == "voltha-2.8" ]; then
+          VC_VERSION="1.6.10"
+      else
+          VC_VERSION="\$(curl --fail -sSL https://api.github.com/repos/opencord/voltctl/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name | sed -e 's/^v//g')"
+      fi
       curl -Lo $WORKSPACE/bin/voltctl https://github.com/opencord/voltctl/releases/download/v\$VC_VERSION/voltctl-\$VC_VERSION-\$HOSTOS-\$HOSTARCH
       chmod +x $WORKSPACE/bin/voltctl