Haveri, Aug. 7 -- Congress MLA Basavaraj Shivannavar, who was left out of the recent Karnataka cabinet expansion, said the final decision on ministerial appointments came from the party High Command despite former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah backing his candidature.

Speaking to ANI on Thursday, Shivannavar said Siddaramaiah had advocated for representation from North Karnataka and had proposed his name for a ministerial berth.

"Former CM Siddaramaiah is my godfather. He had said that someone from North Karnataka should be given an opportunity, and that it should be Shivannavar. That remained the case until the very end. But in the final moments, neither Siddaramaiah nor the Chief Minister had any information. The name came from the High...