Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot addresses the media in Jaipur on Wednesday. (PTI)

With the Congress pushing for disqualification of 19 party MLAs, including former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, 13 Independent legislators in the Assembly are set to play a crucial role.

Without Pilot and the other 18 MLAs, the Congress’s strength in the 200-member House will go down from 107 to 88 – or 89 with support of ally RLD. And this is where support of the Independents becomes crucial in order to reach the majority mark of 101.

Ten of these Independents, already ‘associated members’ of the Congress, are known to be in the camp of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Most of them, originally from Congress, contested the 2018 Assembly polls as Independents after being denied a party ticket given the power struggle between Pilot and Gehlot camps, and as such are mostly Gehlot loyalists.

In the present crisis, they have issued statements in support of the CM.

“I have been a three-time Congress MLA and was a state minister earlier. In my constituency (Dudu, in Jaipur district), I am Congress party. I was denied a ticket in 2018 only because I am a supporter of Ashok Gehlot,” Independent legislator Babulal Nagar said.

“I can never think of leaving the Congress. The government in Rajasthan is secure. We will not let BJP destabilise it,” said Nagar, who defeated official candidates of both BJP and Congress, and won by over 14,500 votes.

Kanti Prasad, MLA from Thanagazi, in Alwar district, also said he has pledged his support to the Gehlot government. “After I was denied a ticket (by Congress) for the Assembly polls, I won as Independent. All 10 of us – Independents – are with the government. We are all staying at Hotel Fairmont in Jaipur,” he said.

Among other Independents supporting Gehlot is Mahadeo Singh, MLA from Khandela in Sikar district and a six-time legislator who was a Union minister in the UPA-2. The veteran Congressman was denied a ticket from Khandela in 2018 and the Congress fielded Subhash Meel, Youth Congress’s then Sikar district president. Meel finished third in the polls.

Alok Beniwal, son of senior Congress leader and former Gujarat governor Kamla Beniwal, won as Independent from Shahpura constituency after he was denied a ticket and is believed to be supporting the government.

“A majority of the Independent MLAs have been associated with Congress in the past. Many of them have never been in BJP. That is why we (Gehlot camp) are at an advantage – chances of them supporting the BJP are slim… They won (in 2018) given their strong credentials (at the constituency level),” a senior Congress leader said on the condition of anonymity.

The other notable Independent MLAs who are understood to be supporting the Congress government include Sanyam Lodha, once considered close to the Pilot camp but now said to be firmly behind Gehlot, Laxman Meena, Ramkesh, and Raj Kumar Gaur.

Support from most of these Independent MLAs had tilted the power equation for the CM post in Gehlot’s favour after the Assembly polls.

Twelve of the 13 Independents were made associated members of the Congress a few months after the Assembly polls.

The Congress, which had won 99 seats in the Vidhan Sabha polls, got the majority with the support of the Independents and one MLA from alliance partner RLD. The party later won two seats in Assembly by-elections and six BSP legislators merged into the Congress, taking the party’s individual strength to 107.

Suresh Tank and Om Prakash Hudla, two of the 13 Independent MLAs, have been members of the BJP in the past and are among three Independents who were recently being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in connection with the state SOG’s probe into alleged conspiracy to topple the Gehlot government.

The third Independent MLA to be investigated, Khushveer Singh, has a Congress background.

The Congress had removed the three legislators as its associated members after the probe was announced; it is unclear at the moment who they will support in the event of a floor test.

In the recent Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress had got support of one MLA each of the CPI(M) and ally RLD, and two legislators of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP). After the present crisis unfolded, BTP issued a whip and asked its two MLAs to abstain from voting for any side in case of a floor test.