Gehlot pays courtesy visit to Governor after 2 BTP MLAs extend support

Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday met Governor Kalraj Mishra, hours after two MLAs of a regional party that withdrew support from the Congress government announced that they will back the administration.

"Governor Kalraj Mishra on Saturday evening met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in his official residence. It was a courtesy meeting. Mr Gehlot informed the Governor about the measures taken by the state government against the coronavirus pandemic. The meeting lasted 45 minutes," the Governor's office said in a Hindi statement.

Earlier, Mr Gehlot tweeted that the BTP MLAs have announced their support.

"Both MLAs of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) announced their support to the government after meeting their state executive officials and discussing with their demands," Mr Gehlot tweeted in Hindi.

The two MLAs had become an interesting sidelight in the political drama over Sachin Pilot's revolt this week when they posted a video on social media, which went viral, alleging that they were chased by the police, stopped and virtually held hostage when they tried to leave state capital Jaipur.

Losing the two MLAs would have brought down numbers for the Chief Minister as the Congress struggled to keep its flock protected from Sachin Pilot's rebel camp.

The rebel camp had claimed that Mr Pilot had 30 MLAs who were willing to walk with him if needed from the government in Rajasthan - a number enough to bring down the government of Mr Gehlot. But Mr Gehlot says he has 109 MLAs loyal to him.

One of the BTP MLAs, Rajkumar, had told NDTV on Thursday that they remain in Rajasthan, are not part of Team Pilot, and plan to meet Mr Gehlot "to discuss certain issues."

BTP chief Mahesh Bhai Vasava wrote to his MLAs on Monday saying the party should stay neutral in case of a floor test in the assembly. The MLAs were asked to skip any floor test altogether.

The two legislators had then said they were with Ashok Gehlot. "There is some confusion. Right now we are with the government. But we will take a final decision after talking to our leaders," they had told NDTV.