Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on 14 July inaugurated the Sigandur cable-stayed bridge in Shivamogga, Karnataka—billed as India’s second-longest such span—along with a package of national-highway projects aimed at improving regional connectivity. The ceremony triggered a political spat after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he had not been consulted or invited, despite his name appearing on the programme for the bridge dedication and foundation-stone events. He wrote to Gadkari protesting the ‘snub’, and senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of habitually slighting the state government. Gadkari countered that an official invitation had been sent to the Chief Minister on 11 July and released a copy of the letter on social media. Central officials subsequently reiterated the invitation, but Siddaramaiah maintained that protocol had been breached. The episode deepens the ongoing tussle between the Congress-led state administration and the BJP-run Union government ahead of Karnataka’s next round of infrastructure rollouts.