After electing Pinarayi Vijayan as the opposition leader, defying the cadre sentiments in the party meetings, the CPM continued to mount a defence for Veena Vijayan, the former Chief Minister's daughter and Pinarayi, as ED sleuths unleashed raids on Wednesday.

The party weaved the narrative around Chief Minister V D Satheesan's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called the raids the result of an 'evil design' conjured by Satheesan and the BJP. Even during the election campaign, the party had scooped up old images to associate Satheesan with the BJP.

ED is conducting raids on 10 premises in Kerala in connection with the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) case. The case is that funds were diverted from the CMRL to various individuals under the guise of fake expenses, and that Veena Vijayan was one of the beneficiaries.

The CPM denounced the ED raid at Pinarayi Vijayan's residence and tweeted that it was a targeted attack by the BJP government on the top opposition leader. In a tweet, CPM General Secretary M A Baby asked if the UDF government was complicit in this raid.

CPM Kannur Secretary and State committee member K K Ragesh said that the raids were politically motivated and drew comparisons to the way the CBI had haunted AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the 2022 Delhi excise policy case. Ragesh also said that the party's seniormost leader, Pinarayi Vijayan, and his family are being targeted.

"He is one of the most prominent leaders of the party. Pinarayi and his family are being framed in fake cases, and the BJP is using the ED to dismantle the party. BJP and Congress had planned this in advance. In the last few elections, the Congress spread lies saying that the CPM was helping the BJP. The reality was that the Congress forged deals with the BJP in the General elections and the local body polls. Even in the recently held assembly elections, strategic voting was held in at least two constituencies in Kannur," he said.

Ragesh went a step further to say that the similarity doesn't stop merely with the names of V D Savarkar and V D Satheesan, alleging that Satheesan colludes with the BJP to weaken the CPM in Kerala.

The party launched protests in Kozhikode and Kannur in front of the residences of PA Mohamed Riyas, MLA, and Pinarayi Vijayan, where the ED raids are currently underway.

The party's stand on the alleged CMRL monthly pay-off deal without offering services involving Veena Vijayan has so far been counter-productive. There have been reports of an internal rift over the decision to back Veena Vijayan. In 2023, the CPM state secretariat issued a statement denying the findings of the interim board of Income tax settlement that Veena had received ₹1.72 crore from the CMRL without providing any service.

In April 2025, when the 24th Party Congress was underway, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filed its final complaint. Even then, the party rallied behind Vijayan and alleged ulterior political motives behind the move