Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on October 20 rejected JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda’s claim that the Left leader had approved of Kerala ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) partner JD(S) having an alliance with the BJP in Karnataka, and said it was both “baseless and devoid of truth.”
In a statement issued hours after Mr. Gowda had claimed that Mr. Vijayan had greenlit the JD(S)'s alliance with the BJP in Karnataka to protect the regional party's interests, the Chief Minister on October 20 asked the former Prime Minister to correct his statement.
In a strongly worded statement, Mr. Vijayan said the JD(S) Kerala unit had made it clear that they were categorically against the association with the BJP and that they would stand strong with the Left front in Kerala.
"This is not the first time Deve Gowda is joining hands with the BJP. We all remember 2006, when JD(S) joined the BJP. He left this ideology and associated with the BJP to get a ministerial post for his son," Mr. Vijayan said.
He also attacked the Congress which has alleged that there are links between the CPI(M) and the BJP, and asked the grand old party not to "make a fool out of themselves".
Mr. Gowda had on October 19 claimed that all the State units of his party, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, had given their consent for it to align with the BJP and that Mr. Vijayan had concurred with the move that would "save" the JD(S).
