The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has adopted a "wait and watch" policy with regard to the rebellion within the Congress over the question of appointing former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot to the top post in the State, and no "active" action is being contemplated by the party towards any kind of government formation efforts.
According to a senior party leader involved with affairs in Rajasthan, the rebellion by Congress MLAs and the instability it has wrought "only adds to four years of anti-incumbency generated by the Ashok Gehlot government".
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‘Ready for polls’
"The BJP is just observing what is happening in Rajasthan. This is something that is unfolding within the Congress. The State government has much to answer for in the four years that it has been in power and this adds to all that," said the source. He added that the BJP was ready for polls, even held early.
What is interesting is that the BJP is also "observing" what it said was the erosion of support among Congress MLAs for Mr. Pilot, who, when he had dug in his heels in July 2020, on being denied the post of the Chief Minister and had lodged in a resort in Gurugram along with over 20 Congress MLAs. "This time the number of MLAs who turned up at Shanti Kumar Dhariwal [Minister in the Gehlot government] and later at Assembly Speaker C. P. Joshi's residence, ready to quit in rebellion included many who were with Sachin Pilot in July 2020," said the source.
A long-term implication of the Congress fracas could also have an impact on the BJP in Rajasthan. "While it is true that currently, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is the biggest mass leader the party has in the State, the scatter in the Congress ranks could make the next Assembly elections a one-sided affair for the BJP, strengthening the BJP high command vis-à-vis claims of the State leadership. But all that is in the future," said a source. There was no comment on whether the BJP would send feelers to Mr. Pilot in the wake of these developments.
