Basu becoming the deputy chief minister of West Bengal in the following year. Civil unrest also peaked during the ensuing period which led to a succession of unstable governments, establishment of armed political cadres, Naxalbari uprising and widespread spontaneous agitations against prevailing conditions of extreme poverty. In the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1967, fourteen opposition parties contested through two pre-poll political alliances; the CPI-M led United Left Front and the CPI and Bangla Congress (splinter of the Congress party formed in 1966) led People's United Left Front. The CPI-M became the second largest party outstripping its former party, the CPI. Following the election, the two alliances joined forces to form the United Front government in West Bengal. During the negotiations between the two alliances, Basu was denied the position of chief minister due to opposition to the idea from the CPI and Bangla Congress, all of whom eventually settled for Ajoy Mukherjee of the Bangla Congress as the consensus candidate for the position while Basu became the deputy chief minister and in-charge of the finance department. The government however collapsed within a year when the food minister, P. C. Ghosh resigned from the government after facing persistent agitations led by the CPI-M (both part of the same government) against his policy of seeking voluntary measures from landlords and middlemen which were ineffective in resolving the food crisis. For the mid term West Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1969, the United Front Committee was formed consisting of all the coalition partners of the previous government which agreed upon a pre-poll alliance to contest the election together under a 32-point programme. Under terms of the agreement, if the alliance were to attain a majority then Mukherjee would become the chief minister while Basu would become the deputy chief minister. In addition during the negotiations Basu was able to secure the portfolios of fisheries, food, excise, labour, civil defence and education for the CPI-M as well as the department of general administration and police from the home ministry forsaking the finance ministry which he had previously held. In the election, the United Front won an overwhelming victory with 214 out of 280 seats and as a consequence the CPI-M stood as the first party other than the Congress party to become the largest party in the assembly. In the subsequent second United Front cabinet, Basu became both the deputy chief minister