Vijayan backed BJP-JD (S) alliance, says Gowda

TRIVANDRUM: Former prime minister Deve Gowda’s claims that his ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had the “full concurrence” of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Gowda’s Janata Dal (S) is a constituent of Kerala’s ruling Let Democratic Front (LDF) led by Vijayan’s Communist Party of India-marxist (CPI-M), which opposes the BJP nationally.

His claim shocked LDF leaders working hard to woo minorities.

“Kerala’s Let Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has given the full concurrence to move forward in Karnataka with the BJP to save the party,” Gowda told reporters in Bangalore.

“I had communicated this to Vijayan, and he accepted my position that the alliance with the BJP is vital for our survival. That’s why (our minister) is continuing in his cabinet.”

Last month, the JD (S) joined the Nationalist Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP in Karnataka to defeat the ruling Congress party in next year’s national elections.

Soon, the JD (S) units in Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu said they would continue with the secular democratic and communist parties in these states.

However, Gowda insisted that all these state units now toe the party line opposed to the alliance led by the principal opposition Congress party.

This week, Gowda expelled CM Ibrahim, his party’s chief in Karnataka, once a party stronghold and now on the decline due to opportunistic alliances, for opposing it.

“In Kerala, we are part of the government, and our legislator (K Krishnan Kuty) is a minister there,” the former prime minister said.

“These units understood the situation that made us go with the BJP and supported our move. Our minister in Kerala has consented to us (to strike an alliance with BJP).” He insisted many Muslim leaders in the JD (S) have also supported the party’s decision to join hands with the Hindu nationalists.

JD (S) leader and the state’s irrigation minister, K Krishnan Kuty, denied it, saying they had met Gowda and conveyed their opposition to the alliance with the BJP.

“That’s not true. We are not there. When the news of the JD (S) joining the NDA arose, we went to Bangalore, raised our opposition and parted ways,” he told reporters.

“This is the truth. The chief minister had yet to give his concurrence. We believe in the ideology of (Mahatma) Gandhi and (the late Indian socialist Rammanohar (Lohia).”

However, he failed to explain the JDS chairman’s statement that Kuty’s continuance in Vijayan’s cabinet was because of this concurrence.