Pilot is likely to clarify his stand and announce his next political move through a statement that is likely to be released later this evening. In a tweet issued in the afternoon Pilot stated, ‘Satya ko pareshan kiya jaa sakta hai paraajit nahi [Truth can be frustrated not defeated]’.
While intense speculation is doing rounds on the next moves of Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, many political observers are also keeping a close eye on the next move of the governor.
If BJP presses for a floor test and the governor gives his assent, an interesting contest could be on the cards where the independents and those of the two-MLA Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) will become crucial. In a statement released on Tuesday, BTP announced that it would support neither the Congress nor the BJP in the floor test.
Congress sources say that the party has the support of 107 MLAs, one MLA each from CPI(M) and the RJD, and that of 13 independents – six more than are necessary to remain in power. BJP has 72 MLAs and its political ally RLP, has three.
“It was quite clear for the past six months that BJP was trying to do here what they did in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Horse trading was going on. The resort [where Pilot and his aides are staying] is owned by the BJP, the same people of the BJP who supervised toppling of governments from other states are now in action managing the situation here,” Gehlot said.
He added that the decision to convene the CLP and sack Pilot and his loyalists was necessitated by the almost daily “provocations” as he described it, that were being made by them over the past six months.