The BJP on Tuesday said Sachin Pilot was welcome to join the party and demanded a floor test in the Rajasthan Assembly.

BJP leaders in Delhi have said in private that they are confident that it is a matter of time before the Ashok Gehlot government collapses.

However, at present, the BJP is playing its cards cautiously, aware that the numbers game in Rajasthan is different from the one in Madhya Pradesh. The gap between the Congress and the BJP is wide in Rajasthan, compared with Madhya Pradesh, where the previous Kamal Nath government had a wafer-thin majority.

As soon as the Congress’s efforts to assuage Pilot failed on Tuesday, Om Mathur, a BJP parliamentarian from Rajasthan, said in Delhi: “Our doors are open for Sachin Pilot. Anyone who wishes to adopt our ideology is welcome.”

Mathur demanded that Gehlot prove his majority in the Assembly. Pilot had claimed that the Gehlot government was in minority.

The BJP is keen to have Pilot in its fold, given his stature as the tallest leader of the numerically strong Gurjars in Rajasthan. At the same time, the party did not appear ready to make him the chief minister.

The BJP’s first priority is to ensure that the Gehlot government collapses and to capture power in the state directly or indirectly. The party has also kept the option open for supporting a Pilot-led government from outside, if the rebel leader manages to wean away enough MLAs.

“Our priority is that this government loses power. We are monitoring the situation and we will decide our strategy as the situation unfolds,” BJP’s Rajasthan chief Satish Poonia said.

Pilot has claimed he will not join the BJP. But a senior BJP leader asked: “Sachin Pilot’s main aim now is to pull down the Gehlot government. Can he achieve this without help from the BJP?”

BJP insiders claimed that many Congress and Independent MLAs who were backing Gehlot now could rebel on the floor of the Assembly. At the same time, BJP managers are aware that it is not easy to destabilise the government led by the seasoned Gehlot.