Reacting to the statements of Kerala leaders, including the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, against him, Janata Dal (Secular) patriarch HD Deve Gowda has said that there is ‘some confusion’ about his statement on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). Gowda, in a press meet held in Bengaluru on October 19, said that JD(S) had the consent of Kerala CM Pinarayi in their decision to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and that all the state units including Kerala had extended support to it. This statement was immediately denied by both Pinarayi and the JD(S) Kerala unit.
Responding to the statements of Pinarayi and others, Gowda said that he spoke only about how the JD(S) unit in Kerala continues to stand with the LDF, even as things with other state units except Karnataka are unresolved after the party’s alliance with BJP. “There is some confusion about my statement on the CPM. My Communist friends do not seem to have followed what I said nor the context in which I said. I never said the CPM in Kerala supports the BJP-JDS alliance. 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 CPM leaders had chosen their words better or had sought clarification,” he said.
On October 19, Gowda said, "We are a part of the government in Kerala. We have a minister there. Left party CM has given full concurrence to move forward in Karnataka with BJP to save the party. After understanding the circumstances clearly, the leader of the Left Front has given us the go ahead,” Deve Gowda said on Thursday. He referred to K Krishnan Kutty from JD(S), who is the minister handling electricity portfolio in Kerala.
Responding to this, Chief Minister Pinarayi said that CPI(M) did not ever try to comment or interfere in the internal affairs of that party and that was not the party’s way. “I am absolutely astonished by H D Deve Gowda's recent statement! The mere notion that I would even entertain the idea of supporting a JDS-BJP alliance is nothing short of a delusional fantasy. It is utterly disgraceful for a seasoned politician like Deve Gowda to make such unfounded lies. @cpimspeak has been an unwavering and unyielding force in the battle against the Sangh Parivar. There is no room for ambiguity in our stance,” he said.