NEW DELHI/ JAIPUR: In the eye of the storm in Rajasthan, Congress state chief Sachin Pilot was in touch with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central leadership to topple the Ashok Gehlot government but retracted after he failed to garner support of MLAs.
Unlike Jyotiraditya Scindia who switched over to BJP with 22 MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, the Pilot camp issued a statement late Sunday claiming support of 30 MLAs, including some Independents.
In a show of strength, Gehlot, known as ‘Jadugar’ for mastering political jugglery, on Monday paraded over 100 MLAs.
According to Congress insiders, Pilot was in touch with senior BJP leaders from Rajasthan to negotiate a deal.
He claimed to have told them that he has support of 30 MLAs. Some of his loyalists checked in at a Gurugram hotel on Saturday.
The BJP reportedly asked him to provide a list and parade those 30 MLAs and that is when things took a different turn as many MLAs back tracked.
He was probably left with 10-12 MLAs, including some ministers from the Gehlot Cabinet, backing him in his decision to switch sides.
Until recently, Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas was part of the Pilot camp. But Khachariyawas was seen in the Gehlot camp attending the meeting of MLAs on Monday.
“Congress is in our blood. We can never wear shorts and carry sticks. We are born in Congress and will die here,” Niwai MLA Prashant Bairwa said, after attending the MLA meeting.
“We know that he was in contact with BJP and when the deal didn’t work, he finally had to retract as BJP made it clear that having just 12 MLAs with him won’t achieve anything,” said a Rajasthan Congress leader.
Political experts said Pilot had 30-40 MLAs backing him in 2018, as he got them poll tickets. But in the last 18 months, Gehlot has used his position to sideline Pilot following which the MLAs began switching sides slowly.
Any kind of compromise between Gehlot and Pilot will now be a face saver for the latter as the CM has managed to stop his government from collapsing in the state.