KOZHIKODE: In an sharp tit-for-tat, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday chose to retort in the same vein to his Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy’s unsavoury remarks, igniting a heated debate on the last day of campaigning in the state.
“Dash Mone Revanth, a reply is coming,” Pinarayi retaliated at a press conference in Kannur to Reddy’s ‘Nee Po Mone Vijayan’ jibe.
Campaigning for the Congress in Nemom on Monday, Reddy said Pinarayi’s “expiry date is over.” Echoing a dialogue from Mohanlal-starrer ‘Narasimham’, he quipped, ‘Nee Po Mone Vijayan’.
He later wrote to Pinarayi on his official letterhead, challenging him to a debate on development in Kerala and Telangana—signing off with the same refrain.
“Revanth Reddy is the chief minister of a state. A person holding such a post is expected to uphold certain decorum. He should introspect whether his conduct matches the position. Anyway, as he has made the comment publicly, I too am giving the reply publicly,” Pinarayi said in Kannur.
Pinarayi soon wrote an official reply to Reddy, detailing the achievements Kerala made in the past ten years. “You accused the LDF of not criticising the ruling BJP enough.
Yet, it is the Government of Keralam that is fighting legal battles in the apex court under Articles 131 and 32 against the BJP-led government encroaching on the rights of the states. We are actively trying our best in bringing states ruled by non-BJP parties on a common platform,” he said in the letter. “We will go, but only forward. We will move forward by creating a Nava Keralam that will serve as a model for all,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, in a video message, K Kavitha, a former leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, alleged that the Congress would “cheat the people of Kerala” as it did in her state. “The history of the Congress in Telangana is one of corruption and deceit. It is using Telangana as an ATM, and its campaign in Kerala is being funded with money from there,” she said, appealing to voters to back the Left “for the survival of liberal thought.”