Siddaramaiah, the frontrunner for the post of Karnataka chief minister, has been instructed by the Congress High Command to stay put in Bangalore. He has been told that two senior leaders, Ambika Soni and AK Antony will visit Bangalore late tonight and decide on when to convene the Congress Legislature party meeting to elect the new leader.

Siddaramaiah had said yesterday that he would be leaving for Delhi today to thank his leaders. However the intention behind his visit was to push his case to become the chief minister.

Ambika Soni and Antony are expected in Bangalore tonight. They will hold several round of talks with state leaders including Mallikarjuna Kharge (another contender for the CM' job) and G Parameshwar to decide on who the next CM should be. Once a consensus is arrived at, they would conduct the CLP meeting and a new leader would be formally elected.
-- Vicky Nanjappa