After getting publicly whipped by the CPI over the PM-SHRI issue in the months ahead of the Assembly elections, the CPM is in no mood to accept its traditional ally's claim on the deputy opposition leader's post.

Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan demonstrated his utter disregard for the CPI during a media interaction in Kannur on July 4. 

When told that CPI secretary Binoy Viswam and Parliamentary Party leader K Rajan were repeatedly making the demand, he dismissed these claims like they were nuisance. "They will keep on saying this. There is nothing more to think about it. It is a closed chapter," Pinarayi said. 

He said the issue would not even be discussed in the LDF. "The Front is governed by certain procedures and conventions, and it has no plans to subvert these," Pinarayi Vijayan said. He wondered whether the Opposition Leader's post was a topic for discussion at the LDF, and said the same logic applied for the deputy's post, too. A clear indication, if any was required, that the CPM considered both the posts - opposition leader and deputy - as its right. 

A top party insider said that if the CPI's wish was granted, it would weaken the CPM even further. "The CPI had forced Pinarayi Vijayan to withdraw from PM-SHRI and the humiliation the government suffered had contributed immensely to the LDF's electoral defeat. And now the CPI is trying to exploit a weak moment in LDF's history to gradually expand its influence in the LDF. Don't expect the CPM to let it happen," the leader said.

Vijayan's disdainful rejection of the CPI's deputy claim has dragged the CPI right to the edge of a political cliff from where it has been left balancing precariously. It has no choice but to jump. 

Twice before it had jumped, and survived. The first time in 2017 when Pinarayi Vijayan, then Chief Minister, refused to sack transport minister Thomas Chandy who, according to the Alappuzha District administration, had violated land laws. In protest, CPI ministers refused to attend the Cabinet meeting, forcing Vijayan to secure Chandy's resignation.

Then in late 2025, CPI ministers went a step further. They reportedly threatened to walk out of the Cabinet if the government did not cancel the PM-SHRI agreement. Vijayan obliged, though grudgingly.

It looks like Pinarayi Vijayan is not willing to play ball a third time. Last week, CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam met with his CPM counterpart M V Govindan at the AKG Centre to discuss the deputy issue and had left disappointed. 

Binoy Viswam would not have heard the contemptuous remarks Pinarayi Vijayan made on July 4 as he is in France, attending the 40th Congress of the French Communist Party (PCF) at Lille in the north of France.

So it was Assistant Secretary P P Suneer's turn to respond to Pinarayi Vijayan's snub. Suneer looked uncomfortable in front of the cameras but he was cautious. "You don't have to follow convention all the time," Suneer said in response to Vijayan's remark that the LDF has unbroken conventions. 

An ounce of anger did spill out. "Recent experiences convince us that if the CPI was listened to, the LDF would not have suffered such a fate. On many issues, including PM-SHRI, it is the CPI stand that everyone is talking about," he said. 

Sunner also said why the CPI was making the claim. "The LDF should change and that is the main reason why we are insisting on the deputy opposition leader's post," he said.

A formal response to Vijayan's snub will be drawn up only after Viswam's return from France. Earlier, when the CPM refused to give in to the CPI's demand, there were talks in the CPI of adopting extreme steps like sitting as a separate bloc in the House, and refusing to participate in the adjournment motions moved by the CPM.

However, the first session of the new legislative Assembly saw the CPM and CPI functioning as a cohesive unit. It was CPM's K N Balagopal who unofficially served as the deputy opposition leader, and CPI MLA and former minister K Rajan, whom the CPI wanted as Pinarayi Vijayan's deputy, did not seem bothered.

One day, in solidarity with the CPI, Vijayan had even made a dramatic gesture of entering the Assembly with a bottle of dirt-brown water. He held up the 200-ml bottle and alleged that the slush water was fired by the police on Rajan and AIYF youth who were agitating against the UDF government's move to go ahead with the PM-SHRI deal.

Ironically, the CPI's uncompromising stand on PM-SHRI that had forced the LDF government to freeze the agreement came in handy for Vijayan, as Opposition Leader, to mount an ideological resistance against the UDF government.