Hyderabad, April 6 The political standoff between Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan escalated on Monday with the former rebutting Vijayan's criticism over development and welfare.
In a "point-by-point" response to Vijayan's criticism against his remarks during the election campaign in Kerala, Reddy said that virtually every statistic cited by the Kerala CM is from the NITI Aayog SDG Index 2023-24, which makes the data already outdated.
"Due to my great respect for you as a senior leader, I read your seven tweets with great interest and respect. However, they contain several misstatements, selective citations, and glaring omissions – and I owe it to the people of both our states to set the record straight," he said.
Reddy quoted Vijayan's tweet that Kerala would become the first state in the country to completely eradicate extreme poverty by late 2025.
"We are now in April 2026. You (Vijayan) are speaking of the past in the future tense. Did it happen? Or, was it, like many LDF promises, still a work in progress?" he asked.
On Vijayan's comments that Kerala's poverty rate is just 0.55 per cent, while Telangana's poverty rate stood at 5.88 per cent, Reddy said that Kerala's poverty is the cumulative result of 60-plus years of progressive governance by both the Congress and Left governments, and substantial Gulf remittances.
Telangana is a 12-year-old state which inherited the poverty that BRS and BJP allegedly created together, he said.
In response to Vijayan's claim that Kerala's literacy rate was 95.3 per cent, far ahead of Telangana's 76.9 per cent, the Telangana CM said that Kerala's near universal literacy was shaped over a century by the princely states of Travancore and Cochin, which prioritized education as early as the 1800s, not Vijayan.
On Vijayan attacking the Congress as BJP's 'B-team', Reddy alleged that the CBI has not been ordered by Delhi to pursue the Kerala CM's office in the 2020 Kerala gold smuggling case.
"The Gandhi family, by contrast, is hounded daily. I leave the inference to the people of Kerala," he said.
Reddy also hit out at Vijayan for remaining "silent" on Kerala's alleged structural challenges, including brain drain and industrial stagnation.
The Telangana CM highlighted his government's achievements, including the caste survey, sub-classification of SCs, and transformation of Hyderabad as the country's premier GCC (Global Capability Centre) hub.
Reddy said he has always acknowledged Kerala's genuine achievements in health, literacy, and tourism, which, according to him, are shaped over decades and across multiple governments.
He said, in view of Vijayan's seniority, he would be happy to visit Kerala on April 7 and share the data and hear the Kerala CM's views in a "fact-based discussion".
However, the people of Kerala – struggling with brain drain, industrial stagnation, and a welfare model increasingly dependent on Gulf remittances – deserve the Congress model "which balances welfare with opportunity," he said.
He concluded his attack, again using the famous line "Nee po mone Dinesha" from the Mohanlal-starrer Malayalam blockbuster "Narasimham".
Adapting the dialogue to target Vijayan, he said "Nee po mone Vijayan", alleging that the chief minister's "time is over".
Vijayan had on April 3 hit back at his Telangana counterpart after the latter's sharp criticism of the Left government during a campaign visit to the state.
In a Facebook post, Vijayan had said the Telangana Chief Minister was "misinformed," and accused Reddy of "ridiculing" Kerala and its people while concealing the weaknesses of his own state.
Reddy will campaign in Kerala on Tuesday, participating in roadshows at Kovalam, Mavelikara, and Pathanapuram, an official release said.