Bengaluru, Aug. 12 -- The Karnataka government on Wednesday appointed Congress MLA from Virajpet, AS Ponnanna, as the political secretary to Chief Minister DK Shivakumar with a cabinet minister's status.

According to an official statement, Ponnanna, who represents the Virajpet Assembly constituency, has been appointed to the post with immediate effect.

Ponnanna is a senior Congress leader, former legal advisor 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 streng...