’Untrue, absurd’: Pinarayi Vijayan on Deve Gowda’s BJP alliance claims

mangaloretoday.com

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 20, 2023: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called out former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) supremo HD Deve Gowda for claiming that the Kerala leader had agreed to his party’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka.

 

JD(S), which is in alliance with Pinarayi Vijayan’s CPI(M) in Kerala, recently joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP. The decision did not go down well with many JD(S) leaders in the state, and even the party’s Kerala unit rejected the central leadership’s decision to join the NDA.

However, on Thursday, Deve Gowda asserted that all state units of the JD(S), including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Maharashtra, gave their consent to align with the BJP.

"In Kerala, we are part of the government and our MLA is a minister there. These units understood the situation that made us to go with the BJP and supported our move. Our minister in the Left party’s government (K Krishnankutty) in Kerala has given consent to us," he said.

"Kerala’s Left government’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has given full concurrence to move forward in Karnataka with the BJP to save the party. This is the position," Deve Gowda claimed.

Reacting to Deve Gowda’s claim, Pinarayi Vijayan said the JD(S) leader’s statement was "untrue and completely absurd".

"He is lying to justify his own political upheavals," Pinarayi Vijayan said.

Pinarayi Vijayan further accused Deve Gowda of "betraying" his party’s ideology by aligning with the BJP to secure the chief minister’s seat for his son, Kumaraswamy.

Pinarayi Vijayan also emphasised that the JD(S) has been a long-standing ally of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala. He praised the state leadership of the JD(S) for maintaining their commitment to the LDF, even when the national leadership announced a different stance. He also clarified that neither he nor the CPI(M) had interfered in the internal affairs of the JD(S).

"That’s not our way," he said.

On Friday, Kerala JD(S) leader K Krishnankutty, who is also a minister in the LDF government, refuted Deve Gowda’s statement and emphasised the state unit’s commitment to maintaining its alliance with the CPI(M).

"I met him (Deve Gowda) along with our state president, Mathew T Thomas, MLA, and informed him about our objection in joining the BJP. The state party unit stands by the earlier decision to stand firm with the Left party in Kerala," Krishnankutty was quoted as saying by PTI.

Courtesy: India Today