After days of standoff with its junior ally CPI, the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala finally blinked Wednesday with the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government deciding to suspend its MoU with the BJP-led Centre for the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme. The Vijayan Cabinet also constituted a seven-member Cabinet sub-committee to review the MoU.

The development came after the CPI, the LDF’s second-largest ally, took a firm stand against the proposed rollout of PM SHRI in the state. After the signing of the MoU last Thursday, CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam called it a “violation of the decorum of coalition politics”, saying that “the issue has never been discussed in the Cabinet, and the allies have been kept in the dark”.

Over the last three years, the

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