Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Friday hit back at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after the latter rejected his claims of a BJP alliance in Karnataka.
Gowda’s statement comes after Vijayan termed the JD(S) leader's statement as "untrue and completely absurd".
The Kerala Chief Minister rejected former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's claim that he had agreed to the latter's Janata Dal (Secular)'s alliance with the BJP in Karnataka. "Nothing short of a delusional fantasy," the Chief Minister tweeted, slamming the veteran leader of lying.
Later, Gowda issued a clarification saying: “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.”
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“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,” tweeted the former Prime Minister.
JD(S), which partners with 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 several JD(S) leaders in the state, with state unit rejecting the central leadership's decision.
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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.
Pinarayi Vijayan had 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.
