Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s campaign in support of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government led by the Congress in Keralam has been drawing the ire of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders in the southern state as well as back home.
Revanth Reddy’s criticism and allegations against the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Keralam has already drawn sharp response from CPI(M) Telangana State Secretary John Wesley on Thursday, when he said in a video message that the Chief Minister appeared to have been behaving like an “Aparichitudu,” a strange person whose actions are unpredictable.
On Friday, Keralam Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan rained a wave of criticism against Revanth Reddy on his X handle, where he tried to debunk Reddy’s allegations against the LDF government.
“Telangana CM Shri Revanth Reddy’s recent disparaging remarks about Kerala are entirely baseless. It is ironic that someone who runs bulldozers over the homes of the poor in his own state is trying to preach to Kerala about social progress. “He has simply become a mouthpiece for those trying to sabotage our sustainable and inclusive development model,” Vijayan said.
He suggested that before alleging “corruption and misgovernance” in Keralam, the Telangana CM needed to check official data.
“Has he not noticed that Kerala is the least corrupt state in India? In the NITI Aayog SDG Index (2023-24), Kerala stands tall at the 1st position with 79 points, while Telangana is at 6th. Ridiculing Kerala to hide your own state’s shortcomings is highly regrettable,” Vijayan noted.
He said that as per NITI Aayog, Keralam’s poverty rate was just 0.55 per cent, the lowest in India, and predicted that by late 2025, Kerala would become the first state in the country to completely eradicate extreme poverty.
“Meanwhile, Telangana’s poverty rate is 5.88%. Has the government there decided not to uplift its poorest? While Kerala leads with a 95.3% literacy rate, Telangana still lags at 76.9%,” he said on X.
Accusing Revanth Reddy of spending crores on political advertisements in view of the upcoming Assembly elections to indirectly benefit the Congress there, he wondered whether the Telangana Chief Minister needed to focus on eradicating poverty and improving literacy back home.
“Kerala’s Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is down to 5—better than even the US at 5.6. In Telangana, the IMR is nearly four times higher! Because of our robust public health system, a Malayali lives 5-7 years longer than the average Indian,” Vijayan claimed.
Pointing out that on September 16, 2025, a high-level team of Revenue and Survey officials from Telangana had visited Thiruvananthapuram to study Kerala’s digital land records system, the “Ente Bhoomi,” Pinarayi questioned Reddy’s “hypocrisy” in publicly mocking the very same Keralam governance model his own government is trying to emulate.
Terming Revanth Reddy’s claim of a “nexus” between Keralam and the Centre as “absurd,” Vijayan alleged that it was the “spineless Congress” that acted as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “true B-team,” failing to utter a single word against the Centre’s financial blockade and borrowing limit cuts that choke Keralam’s development.
“Did he miss Kerala’s fierce protests against this neglect? Or is he just defending his party’s betrayal of our state,” Vijayan said.
The Keralam CM felt that a Chief Minister like Revanth Reddy leading a government that “repeatedly delays salaries and pensions” has nothing to teach his state.
“The UDF era of closed treasuries and welfare pensions kept pending for months is a thing of the past. We humbly welcome the Telangana CM to Kerala to learn the true lessons of governance and people’s welfare,” he exhorted.
The Assembly elections in Keralam will be held on April 9 to elect 140 members to the state’s legislative.
