Rahul is and will remain captain of Congress: Gehlot

Speaking to mediapersons at the party headquarters here, Gehlot said: "Rahul is and will be captain of the party. I have said it last month during the protest at the party office here."

He refused to comment on the Congress Working Committee (CWC) decision on appointing a  new chief, following the stepping down of Rahul Gandhi, who made his resignation letter public last month, In support of Rahul Gandhi, Gehlot said: "He had the guts to take on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

He accused the BJP of fighting the Lok Sabha elections by hiding behind the armed forces and by exploiting religious sentiments.

He said: "Everything that achieves height falls one day. And same thing will happen with the BJP. They have attained the height but now if they don't deliver on their poll promises then people will soon start neglecting them."

To a question about the fate of the Karnataka government, where the test of strength in the state assemby is scheduled for Monday, Gehlot said: "In a democracy people are supreme. And whatever the decision is, will be accepted. It is same with all the parties."

Accusing the BJP of being involved in horse-trading and misusing government machinery, the Chief Minister said: "The way in which BJP is behaving is setting wrong precedents. When you are in power and you are trying hard to dethrone an elected government, this is wrong."

He said that whatever had happened in Telangana and Goa is currently being repeated in Karnataka.

According to Gehlot, the BJP's moves to make Congress MLAs change sides will hurt the saffron party in the long run.

Asked about the current leadership issues in the party in the wake of the crisis in the 14-month-old Congress-Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) coalition government in Karnataka, Gehlot said: "There is no leadership crisis in the party. Soon the CWC will decide on the next party chief."