AS Ponnanna, former legal adviser to Siddaramaiah, named political secretary to CM Shivakumar

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government has appointed Congress MLA from Virajpet, A S Ponnanna, as the political secretary to Chief Minister DK Shivakumar with cabinet rank. According to an official statement, Ponnanna, has been appointed to the post with immediate effect.

Ponnanna is a senior Congress leader, former legal adviser to Siddaramaiah and currently represents Virajpet in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The notification was issued by the Karnataka government’s Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms.

The development comes days after 20 new MLAs took oath as ministers on August 3, expanding the Karnataka Cabinet to its full strength.

Those sworn in as ministers included P M Narendraswamy, Shivaraj Tangadagi, Rudrappa Lamani, K S Basavanthappa, B Nagendra, T Raghumoorthy, B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, Rizwan Arshad, Santosh Lad, Madhu Bangarappa, Putturangashetty, S S Mallikarjun, Dr Ajay Singh, N Chaluvaraya Swamy, K M Shivalinge Gowda, H C Balakrishna, Gayathri Shanthegowda, Basavaraj Rayareddi, Vijayanand Kashappanavar and Laxman Savadi.

Ponnanna’s name was not included in the Cabinet expansion list. However, the latest appointment comes after Shivakumar had promised to assign “appropriate responsibilities” to MLAs who were not inducted into the Cabinet. The appointment is being seen as part of the government’s move to accommodate party leaders who were left out of the Cabinet expansion. (ANI)