'Nee po mone' rift deepens: Telangana's Reddy hits back with fiery rejoinder at Kerala's Vijayan

NEW DELHI: Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy fired back at Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan with a pointed letter. In his "final response" to Vijayan's poor governance allegations, Reddy listed out fresh data highlighting Telangana's progress.He opened his letter with a sharp criticism of the language used by the Kerala CM, calling it "language of poor taste" and a "dash comment". He wrote, "Thank you for your letter. While I chose to conduct myself respectfully and gracefully in my criticism of your government's performance, you have chosen to use language of poor taste. 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 Reddy dismissed Vijayan's reliance on the NITI Aayog SDG Index 2023-24 as outdated, arguing it captured the "tail-end" of the previous BRS-BJP regime that ended in December 2023. "You continue to cite the NITI Aayog SDG Index 2023-24 as a verdict on the present Telangana. That index captures the tail-end of a decade of BRS-BJP misrule, which ended in December 2023. Our government has completed 28 months. Judge us by that record," he wrote.He highlighted that his government achieved 10.1 per cent GSDP growth over 28 months, surpassing the national average at 6.15 per cent, with per capita income reaching Rs 3.87 lakh, making Telangana among the top performers alongside Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra.Reddy also questioned Vijayan's claim that Kerala eradicated extreme poverty by late 2025, asking if the November 2025 declaration of zero extreme poverty was independently verified.He said, "You tweeted that "by late 2025, Kerala is set to become the first state to completely eradicate extreme poverty." We are in April 2026. In 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?"On graft, Reddy challenged the alleged Sabrimala gold theft being unaccounted as he said, "I respect NITI Aayog's corruption rankings. But if Kerala is demonstrably clean, why does the Kerala gold smuggling case with documented links to individuals connected to your Chief Minister's office remain unresolved? Why has 4.5 kg of gold allegedly misappropriated from the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple not been accounted for?"He contrasted this with Telangana's anti-corruption drive while rejecting Vijayan's "bulldozer politics" charge over poor housing demolitions.Reddy further touted Telangana's aim for a $1 trillion economy in a decade, anchored in future industries at Zahirabad, predicting Kerala's people would soon opt for a "Nava Kerala" vision as his government implements it. He invited Vijayan to Thiruvananthapuram for a fact-based debate, signing off: "Best Regards".The rift between the two state CMs began when Revanth Reddy, while campaigning in Kerala for the Congress-led UDF earlier this month, launched sharp attacks on Pinarayi Vijayan’s government. He also set Vijayan off by using "Nee po mone Dinesha" (Go away, kid) remark, suggesting Vijayan’s "expiry date" had passed.Vijayan hit back by accusing Telangana of poor governance and citing official data on poverty, literacy and corruption, turning the spar into a wider battle over which state model works better.