‘LDF is CPI’s child’: Binoy Viswam urges end to CPI-CPI(M) row over Deputy LoP post in Keralam

Communist Party of India (CPI) on Tuesday appeared to signal that indefinite squabbling with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] over the post of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly would leave the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in a politically perilous vacuum and accountability void in the wake of its crushing defeat in the 2026 Assembly elections. 

CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam indicated in New Delhi that the party would expedite steps to settle the dispute and come together to “understand the reality” of the LDF’s situation in Keralam. He also ruled out media speculation that the CPI would sit as a disparate bloc in the Assembly.

Mr Viswam also hinted that the national gathering of Left leaders in New Delhi for the ‘Change Is Necessary’ rally against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi might play a mediatory role on the sidelines in helping the CPI settle its differences of opinion with the CPI(M). 

“The CPI formed the LDF. It is CPI’s child. The CPI won’t kill its own infant. Nevertheless, the CPI is insistent that the LDF becomes a healthy child with character and goodness”, he said. 

The rift in the LDF over the post has spilt into the open in the run-up to the CPI(M)’s extended State committee meeting to analyse the poll debacle in Kozhikode on September 23. 

However, the dispute between the two major LDF constituents had been simmering since the CPI(M) “unilaterally” signed the PM SHRI to unlock federal funding for schools, without deliberations in the LDF, triggering accusations of one-upmanship and a dictatorial style of coalition functioning. 

Notably, the CPI’s mouthpiece, Janayugam, wrote an opinion piece arguing against a “single-leader, personality-cult-oriented style of functioning” and advocating a wider, collective leadership architecture in the LDF, given the new political realities following the election defeat. 

In response, CPI(M) mouthpiece Deshabhimani published an article criticising the CPI for “putting the LDF under duress” by demanding the Deputy Leader of the Opposition post, which the newspaper argued has historically belonged to the CPI(M). 

Meanwhile, CPI leader K Rajan, MLA, cautioned the United Democratic Front (UDF) against exploiting in-house disputes in the LDF. Referring to an article in the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) mouthpiece Chandrika criticising the CPI(M)’s “master-slave” relationship with other LDF constituents, Mr Rajan said the UDF need not hope that it could drive a wedge between LDF constituents. 

The CPI’s stance also came against the backdrop of Kerala Congress (M) chairperson Jose K. Mani reminding the CPI and CPI(M) leaderships that the LDF should stand together and discuss the reasons for the electoral defeat with an open mind, “instead of bickering publicly.”