Janata Dal (Secular) patriarch H D Deve Gowda said in a press meet held in Bengaluru on October 19, Thursday, that the party had the consent of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in their decision to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and that all the state units including Kerala had extended support to it.
Both Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the JD(S) Kerala unit have denied the claims by their national president.
¨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. K Krishnan Kutty, the minister handling electricity portfolio is from JD(S).
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Deve Gowda is lying. “At no point did the CPI(M) try to comment or interfere in the internal affairs of that party. Even as Chief Minister, there was no need to interfere in their internal affairs. That's not our way,¨ he said.
¨It is propriety and political decency to correct Deve Gowda's absurd statement. The stand taken by the JD(S) Kerala unit is that they are against BJP and not with Deve Gowda,” he added.
The JD(S) veteran spoke about Pinarayi Vijayan’s consent in the press meet called to announce dissolvement of JD(S) state working committee and removing the partyś state president CM Ibrahim.
Earlier when JD(S) announced its ties with NDA, the Kerala leaders of the party, Mathew T Thomas and Krishnankutty, had said they will remain with LDF. They also said that the Kerala unit will stick to the anti-BJP stand they have taken.
Reacting to Deve Gowda’s statement, Mathew T Thomas, Kerala JD(S) state president said that he might have said this out of misunderstanding or due to his age related issues.
“As per my understanding it has been years since there was a communication between JD(S) president and Kerala CM. There is no necessity of giving or seeking consent in this matter,¨ Mathew said.
¨JD(S) party plenum held in October 2022 in Bengaluru had declared the party’s anti-BJP stance. During Karnataka Assembly elections after this plenum the party stood by its stand. But couldn't get much in elections. Even the executive meeting held after the elections also took the stand to keep distance from Congress and BJP. But without discussing in any forum later the party president declared to join forces with BJP,¨ Mathew said.
He said that it was not a decision but just a declaration by the party president.
Pinarayi Vijayan said this was not the first time Deve Gowda joined the BJP. ¨Gowda has taken the stand that he even betrayed his own party's ideology by teaming up with the BJP to get his son the Chief Minister's seat. The Janata Dal leadership and ranks in Kerala, led by national leader Surendra Mohan, left the JD(S) protesting Deve Gowda's political stance,¨ he said.