A day after Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy claimed that Kerala was plagued by corruption and mismanagement, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hit back, listing the state’s achievements in human development indicators and comparing it with Telangana.
On Thursday, after the Congress-led United Democratic Front’s statement was unveiled, Reddy commented that Vijayan’s “expiry date has expired” and the “dark era” under his administration in Kerala is over.
In a Facebook post on Friday, CM Vijayan said someone had “seriously misled” his counterpart in Telangana about Kerala and its development indicators. He said Reddy had no right to comment on social indicators in Kerala, considering that he had recently demolished homes of poor people in Telangana.
“By ignoring the demolition of homes of the poor in his state, he appears ready to lecture Kerala on social progress and public welfare – and has clearly been seriously misled by someone,” Vijayan wrote.
Vijayan put out several statistics to substantiate his view that Kerala is performing much better than Telangana in many socio-economic indicators.
“In the Niti Aayog Sustainable Development Index (2023-24), Kerala ranks 1st. Telangana ranks 6th. It is not right to compare two states, but Reddy hides the weaknesses of his administration to criticize another state. According to Niti Aayog, Kerala has the lowest poverty rate at 0.55%. We were the first state in India to eradicate extreme poverty. The poverty rate in Telangana is 5.88%,” he said on Facebook.
Responding to the allegations of corruption and administrative failure, Vijayan said: “He claims that Kerala is characterized by corruption and administrative failure, but he must be willing to look at the official data. Is he unaware that Kerala is among the least corrupt states in the country?”
On education and health, Vijayan said Kerala’s literacy rate is 95.3%, much higher than Telangana’s 76.9% rate, and added that “Kerala’s infant mortality rate has come down to 5 per 1,000 live births,” which he said is lower than the rate in countries like the United States.
CM Vijayan noted that a large delegation of revenue and survey officials from Telangana had visited Kerala in 2025 to study the ‘Ente bhoomi, digital bhoomi’ project to digitize land-related records in the state. “Making such comments shows the political hypocrisy of the Prime Minister when his government saw Kerala as a model,” he said.
He said Kerala had “nothing to learn” from the chief minister of the state as salaries and pensions were not being paid on time. “We welcome the Telangana Board to come to Kerala and study its welfare models,” Vijayan said.
Reddy had on Thursday criticized the Vijayan government for “remaining silent” as several national development projects, including major highway works, have stalled.
He called on voters to “teach a lesson” to both the BJP and the LDF, accusing the Center of misusing agencies like the ED and CBI, and alleged that the CPI(M) leaders were spared due to political arrangements.
Questioning Reddy’s criticism, Vijayan said: “When his government seeks to learn from Kerala’s initiatives, how can the Prime Minister himself mock them? What greater political hypocrisy could there be?” He also rejected Reddy’s claims that the Kerala government was colluding with the Centre, and instead accused the Congress of failing to oppose central policies which, he said, were constraining the state financially.
“Let me humbly say that Kerala has nothing to learn from the Chief Minister who is leading a government where salaries and pensions are repeatedly delayed,” Vijayan added.
Concluding his remarks, Vijayan said: “It is Revanth Reddy who should learn lessons in governance from Kerala. We welcome him to visit Kerala to study its welfare model.”
(with PTI inputs)
