Achuthanandan had served many positions in his long political career. He was the Kerala State Secretary of the CPI(M) between 1980 and 1992 and he became the member of the Politburo since 1985. He was also active in parliamentary politics as he became the member of Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1967, 1970, 1991, 2001 and 2006. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006.He was the editor of CPI(M) mouth piece in Malayalam, Deshabhimani Daily, later he was removed from the post. V.S.Achuthanandan and E. Balanandan were opposing each other earlier on the issue of Trade Union independence, but both united to fight against the Social Democratic group of CPI(M) along with the Left intellectual M. N. Vijayan.
