Thiruvananthapuram: After facing flak over JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda's statement on the alliance with the BJP-led NDA, Kerala Electricity Minister K Krishnankuttym, who represents the party in the state cabinet, on Sunday declared that the state unit would stand independently. It is learnt that the state leadership took the major move to save LDF's face.
Krishnankutty said he and state JD(S) president Mathew T Thomas held talks with the party leaders in Karnataka and informed them that an alliance with the BJP was not acceptable. "We told them that what they did was not right," he told a TV news channel.
"We informed them that we were ending the relationship and that we would remain independent and then we came back. We had a committee meeting here and decided to stand independently. Everyone was in agreement with that and that is the factual position," he said.
The Congress-led UDF alliance has been accusing the ruling CPM in the state of not severing ties with the JD(S), which has joined hands with the BJP at the national level. On Friday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanrejected the claim made by Deve Gowda that he had endorsed the JD(S)-BJP alliance and said it was "both baseless and devoid of truth".
After Vijayan's rebuttal, Deve Gowda took an about turn and clarified that he never said the ruling Left party in the neighbouring state supported the tie-up.
CPM state secretary M V Govindan on Saturday said there was no need to remove Krishnankutty from the Kerala cabinet as the state unit of the JD(S) had clarified that it would 'stand strong' on the Left front.
(With PTI inputs)
