Pinarayi Vijayan has aggressively reacted to the comment of A Revanth Reddy and has been dissatisfied by what he said were personally insulting words uttered by the latter in the context of political criticism. In an official letter to his Telangana equivalent, Vijayan stressed the importance of preserving dignity in the political conversation particularly among leaders of non-BJP governments.
It comes after a recent election rally in Kerala when Revanth Reddy allegedly said that the Vijayan was at the end of his tenure citing a famous movie quote. Telangana chief minister had also made a critical statement about the performance of the Kerala government claiming that the Kerala government was using old data and making comparisons with the development model of Telangana.
In reaction to these, Vijayan clarified that although people differ in politics, the differences need not be personal. According to him, these kinds of comments destroy the spirit of positive discussion and collaboration between states. The Kerala chief minister also stated that he did not want to do a comparative study on administration of the two states stating that the people of Telangana can judge the performance of their government.
Vijayan further pointed out that his administration has been publishing comprehensive progress reports on a regular basis, which serves as a source of transparency and accountability. He emphasized that the state of governance ought to be evaluated on the basis of steady performance and not on the basis of selective comparisons that are done in political campaigns.
The exchange is a turning point in the verbal duel between the two leaders that attracts focus on the nature of political discourse in the electoral season.