The BJP knows that “19 rebel Congress leaders” are not sufficient to bring down the Ashok Gehlot government even if they were to jump the ship while it waits for the Rajasthan chief minister and his challenger Sachin Pilot to exhaust all their political moves.
Party leaders say Pilot does not have the numerical strength to bring down the government and they are also waiting for high court response and July 17, the deadline set by the Speaker, on notices sent to the 19 Congress rebels, to decide on future course of action.
Sources say the state leadership has also decided to put off planned meetings for now.
Though some informal meetings have been held in which senior leaders like Gulab Chand Kataria, Satish Poonia and Rajendra Rathore participated, former CM Vasundhara Raje is yet to be heard on the issue.
The sources say the state unit had asked Raje to come to Jaipur for discussions but she is “busy with some personal work” in her constituency and will arrive when “something significant happens and there is a need”.
Besides, there are also reports that some of the 19 rebel MLAs want to return to the party fold.
Saffron leaders say if that happens, Pilot’s numbers will go down further unless he is able to persuade some in Gehlot camp to switch sides.
But for now, 19 is not a sufficient number to seek a floor test in the 200-member House in which the BJP has 72 MLAs and support from three RLP members.
If Pilot does manage to convince some, the party will consider asking for the floor test.
Though interestingly, given its past track record, if the BJP wants it can topple the Congress government.
After all, it is just a matter of convincing 10 odd more Congress MLAs to abandon Gehlot.
However, it seems Raje and her supporters and also some other senior leaders are not too keen in participating in what is largely being read as a “Delhi-sponsored programme”.
