In a desperate political gambit to leverage his position viz-a- viz Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his bête noire, Sachin Pilot, is believed to be in talks with the BJP, which is not yet inclined to hand over to him the post of chief minister, even if he crosses over with his pack of loyalists.
As the game of political brinkmanship gets played out, reminiscent of the Kamal Nath saga when Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP with 22 MLAs, CM Gehlot called a meeting of all MLAs, ministers and independents supporting the Congress party at his residence on Sunday evening.
The meeting was an exercise to gauge the numbers that are with Gehlot. The Congress Legislative Party meeting is also scheduled to be held on Monday at 10.30 am at the chief minister’s residence.
At Gehlot’s residence, three Pilot loyalists -- Prashant Bairwa, Chetan Dudi and Danish Abrar -- held a press conference and expressed faith in the chief minister's leadership. They also said that they would be with the Congress as long as they lived. The three were believed to be in Delhi with Pilot. The three said that they had been to Delhi on some personal work and there was no lock up of legislators in Delhi.
The rear-guard action by the leadership came even as the second act of the drama was being enacted with Pilot camping in the national Capital with over a dozen of his supporters, constraining senior leader Kapil Sibal to wonder whether the party would bolt the stable after all horses have fled?
