Deve Gowda backtracks: 'I never said CPM in Kerala supports BJP-JDS alliance'

Hours after triggering a political storm by claiming the LDF government in Kerala had consented to an alliance of the Janata Dal (Secular) with the BJP, H D Deve Gowda has backtracked.

"There is some confusion about my statement on the CPM," the JDS patriarch posted on social media. "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," Gowda posted 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," Gowda explained.

Earlier on the day, Gowda had dragged along Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by stating that the CPM leader had "given full concurrence to move forward in Karnataka with the BJP to save the party".

Gowda's statements brought the opposition in Kerala to its heels with K Sudhakaran, the chief of the Congress party in the state, urging Pinarayi to sue the JDS veteran if the statement was a lie. His colleague and leader of the opposition, VD Satheesan demanded that the CM sack his JDS representative (K Krishnankutty) from the cabinet.

Pinarayi later rubbished the claim and said the JDS unit in Kerala had been clear about its non-association with the BJP.

Having said he was misunderstood, Deve Gowda expressed his disappointment over the response to it. "I wish CPM leaders had chosen their words better or had sought clarification," Gowda posted.