Hyderabad, April 7 Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy questioned his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday whether the latter's claim that Kerala would become the first state to completely eradicate extreme poverty by late 2025 had been achieved.
Reddy also said he chooses to conduct himself respectfully and gracefully in his criticism of the Kerala government's performance, whereas Vijayan opted to use language of poor taste.
Both leaders engaged in a war of words, attacking each other during the campaign in the run-up to the Kerala Assembly polls.
Reddy in his letter addressed to Vijayan, said the new government of Kerala will implement the "Nava Keralam" (New Kerala) vision and the people of the coastal state will decide soon.
"You tweeted that by late 2025, Kerala is set to become the first state to completely eradicate extreme poverty. We are in April 2026. ln your letter, you speak of 64,006 families still receiving micro-plans. I ask plainly: Has extreme poverty been eradicated? Was the November 1, 2025 declaration independently verified," Reddy asked Vijayan.
Vijayan continues to cite the NITI Aayog SDG Index 2023-24 as a verdict on present Telangana. However, that index captured the tail-end of a decade of BRS-BJP misrule, which ended in December 2023, the Telangana CM said.
Citing RBI's own Handbook of Statistics 2024-25, Reddy said Telangana's GSDP in 2024-25 stood at Rs 16.12 lakh crore, growing at 10.1 per cent, above the national average of 9.9 per cent while the per capita income reached more than Rs 3.87 lakh, making Telangana the highest-ranked major state in India by this metric, surpassing Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala.
"You are right that Kerala's achievements are cumulative. My limited point: Show the people of Kerala what happened specifically under your tenure," he said.
Reddy said that while he respects NITI Aayog’s corruption rankings, he wants to know why the infamous gold smuggling case, linked to individuals connected to the Chief Minister’s Office, remains unresolved, and why 4.5 kg of gold allegedly misappropriated from the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple has not been accounted for.
"I won't respond with a rash comment to a dash comment. I also promise, when you visit my state, I will give you every respect a host must give a guest," Reddy said.
Reddy said "Telangana Rising" is the state's vision- becoming a USD 1 trillion economy within a decade, anchored by the Future City near Hyderabad and the National Industrial Corridor at Zahirabad.