Humza Yousaf has insisted the SNP would have a mandate to "lay the foundations" for independence if his party wins the most seats in Scotland at the next general election.
The First Minister defended his new plan for achieving another referendum after others branded it "deeply confused".
Yousaf used a speech in Dundee on Saturday to announce his party would move away from Nicola Sturgeon's previous intention to use the next general election as a "de facto referendum".
That would have seen the Scottish Government begin negotiations to the end the Union if pro-independence parties obtained a simple majority of votes.
But Yousaf has now claimed the SNP only needs to win the most seats in Scotland to then make a formal demand for an IndyRef2 from the UK Government.
"The party that wins the most seats, of course, wins the general election," he told BBC Scotland.
"If the UK Government now want to agree to a referendum, if Westminster parties want to agree to that, bring it on, I will call the referendum tomorrow if they agree to do that.”
Speaking of a lack of a second independence referendum, he said: “So in absence of that, the next way to test the proposition on independence is of course by a general election. And the rules of a general election are pretty simple.”
The First Minister added: "I’m not saying to you if we win that general election Scotland suddenly becomes independent. What I’m saying to you is that through a democratic, lawful means, we begin negotiation with the UK Government on how to give that proposition democratic effect.
"I'm under no illusion that Westminster will continue to deny us and that's why the core of my speech to activists is what we must never stop doing, and what we are doing day in and day out, is growing the popular support for independence.
"It's the power of the people that will break Westminster intransigence".
Yousaf also claimed that winning the most seats in Scotland would give the SNP a mandate to begin the process of establishing a new state.
He said: "I doesn't just give us a mandate to seek negotiations with the UK Government, it actually gives us a mandate to get on ourselves as the Scottish Government to lay the foundations of a newly independent state.
"We'll do that a number of different ways, for example, the drafting of an interim constitution".
Professor James Mitchell, an expert on the history of the SNP and the constitution, last night questioned whether Yousaf's aims were achievable.
"The SNP has not only lost momentum but is fast losing its reputation for governing competence that gave it the overall majority in 2011 that provided a mandate for an independence referendum," he said.
"And its ongoing internal problems are hardly a great advert for a party trying to convince the public it believes in accountable and responsible government.
"Putting all that to one side, the SNP leader’s message was still deeply confused."
The academic added: "Hints of the way the SNP intends to campaign in the coming months were evident as much in what Yousaf didn’t say as what he said.
"Despite the rhetoric that there is work to be done, the SNP still lacks coherent, consistent and convincing answers on currency, the economy, borders and, crucially, how it will deliver the healthy, wealthy Scotland that we all want."
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