Kerala, Telangana CMs trade barbs on governance record ahead of April 9 assembly polls

Bengaluru: With barely a day left for Kerala to vote in a new government, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy engaged in a final war of words, sparring over each other’s governance record.

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Highlighting his government’s performance, Vijayan said Kerala had delivered “measurable outcomes” through the Nava Kerala Missions. In a series of posts on X, he cited the Ardram Mission’s overhaul of public healthcare, including the transformation of over 670 primary health centres into family health centres, alongside upgrades to more than 13,000 public schools and the digitisation of 45,000 classrooms. The ‘Samagra’ portal, he added, hosts over 19,000 digital learning resources.


Vijayan also pointed to rankings by NITI Aayog, claiming Kerala is the least corrupt state in the country, while Telangana ranks sixth. Kerala, the veteran CPI(M) leader said, topped the National Sustainable Development Index with 79 points and has consistently led in ease of doing business reforms.

Pitching Kerala as a growing knowledge economy, Vijayan said the state’s 2026 IT policy aims to secure 10% of India’s IT exports, supported by initiatives such as the country’s first Digital Science Park and a network of 20,000 deep-tech startups.

On social indicators, he asserted that Kerala became the first state to eliminate extreme poverty as of November 1, 2025, under the Extreme Poverty Eradication Project (EPEP), which identified over 64,000 families for targeted interventions.

He added that the Left Democratic Front government would continue to take a firm stand against what it termed actions by the Union government that undermine constitutional values, while maintaining political decorum.

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Responding sharply, Reddy questioned the veracity of Kerala’s claims on poverty eradication. “Was the November 1, 2025 declaration independently verified?” he asked in a letter to Vijayan.

While acknowledging NITI Aayog’s corruption rankings, Reddy raised concerns over unresolved issues, including the Kerala gold smuggling case and alleged irregularities linked to temple gold. “If Kerala is demonstrably clean, why do such cases remain unaccounted for?” he asked.

Outlining his own government’s vision, Reddy said Telangana is pursuing a “Telangana Rising” strategy, targeting a $1 trillion economy within a decade. The plan is anchored by projects such as the proposed Future City near Hyderabad and the National Industrial Corridor at Zahirabad.

Reddy added that he expects the incoming government in Kerala to carry forward the ‘Nava Keralam’ vision.