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Former Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) Polit Bureau subordinate Pinarayi Vijayan volition beryllium the Leader of the Opposition successful the Kerala Legislative Assembly. The CPI(M) State committee gathering held connected Thursday (May 14, 2026) unanimously elected him arsenic the legislative enactment leader.
With the determination coinciding with the enactment of erstwhile Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan arsenic the Chief Minister, the improvement sets the signifier erstwhile again for the high-voltage governmental rivalry betwixt the Congress person and Mr. Vijayan that dominated the Assembly implicit the past 5 years.
The State committee meeting, chaired by K. Radhakrishnan, was attended by enactment wide caput M.A. Baby, authorities caput M.V. Govindan, elder person A. Vijayaraghavan and Mr. Vijayan.
This volition beryllium the archetypal clip that Mr. Vijayan, a erstwhile CPI(M) State secretary, assumes the station of the Leader of the Opposition. The seasoned CPI(M) person had served arsenic Kerala’s Chief Minister for 2 consecutive presumption from 2016 to 2026.
Despite the Left Democratic Front (LDF) suffering a large electoral setback aft a decennary successful power, the CPI(M) enactment decided that Mr. Vijayan himself should pb the Opposition benches successful the Assembly. There had been speculation wrong governmental circles implicit who would instrumentality up the Opposition leader’s relation aft the LDF was reduced to 35 seats successful the 140-member House.
Former Finance Minister and Kottarakkara MLA-elect K.N. Balagopal was rumoured to beryllium successful contention for the post.
The CPI(M)’s determination besides comes amid interior discussions wrong the LDF implicit the reasons down the coalition’s electoral defeat. Mr. Baby had precocious defended Mr. Vijayan by stating that work for the decision rested with the corporate enactment and not with 1 idiosyncratic alone.
Mr. Vijayan, elected from Dharmadam constituency for a 3rd consecutive term, volition participate the Assembly for the seventh clip successful his governmental career. Though helium retained the seat, his winning borderline dropped sharply compared to the erstwhile 2 elections. In 2016, helium had won by 36,905 votes, and successful 2021 by 50,123 votes. This time, helium defeated United Democratic Front (UDF) campaigner V. P. Abdul Rasheed by a borderline of 19,247 votes aft a intimately watched contest.
