Deve Gowda denies saying CPI(M) backs his party's tie-up with BJP
The confusion arose after the JD(S) dissolved its Karnataka working committee and removed its president CM Ibrahim for opposing the tie-up with the BJP
JD(S) founder and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda on Saturday (October 21) denied saying that the CPI(M) in Kerala supported his party’s tie-up with the BJP for next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
"There is some confusion about my statement on the CPI(M). My communist friends do not seem to have followed what I said nor the context in which I said," Gowda said on X.
"I only said my party unit in Kerala is getting along with the LDF government as things within my party units outside Karnataka remain unresolved after our alliance with the BJP. I wish CPI(M) leaders had chosen their words better or had sought clarification," Gowda said.
The confusion arose after the JD(S) dissolved its Karnataka working committee and removed its president CM Ibrahim for opposing the tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Vijayan’s attack
Gowda had then 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."
The Kerala chief minister vehemently denied this, calling Gowda’s remarks both "baseless and devoid of truth".
Vijayan said the JD(S) state unit in Kerala had made it clear that they were categorically against the association with the BJP and 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," he said.
Vijayan also attacked the Congress for alleging links between the CPI(M) and the BJP. He asked the grand old party not to "make a fool out of themselves".
(With agency inputs)