Speaking to ANI, Ramchander Rao highlighted that the Congress and Left parties are allied in Telangana. “The Chief Minister of Telangana, Revanth Reddy, has campaigned there and has made a lot of allegations against the BJP as if the BJP and the LDF are having an understanding. The language which he’s using there is definitely shadow boxing with LDF. In Telangana, the Congress and then the Left Front, the CPI and CPM are in alliance, and they both support each other. The fight between the LDF and UDF is only a shadow boxing because they want to stall the BJP’s growth in Keralam,” the BJP leader said.

The spat began on April 3 when Reddy stated that the “dark era” in Keralam was ending and a “golden era” under the UDF was set to commence. Vijayan responded on April 4, calling Reddy’s remarks “disparaging” and “entirely baseless,” and suggested that the Telangana Chief Minister should address his own state’s issues regarding poverty and literacy.

Reddy defended the Congress government in Telangana by noting that the NITI Aayog SDG Index 2023-24, cited by Vijayan, “captured the tail-end of a decade of BRS-BJP misrule.”

The controversy intensified when Reddy asserted that Vijayan’s “expiry date is over” and claimed that the CPI(M) leader’s “godfather”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was shielding him from ongoing legal cases. Vijayan on Tuesday replied with a sharp retort, borrowing from a popular Malayalam cinema dialogue, “Po Mone Dinesha”, a phrase implying that the person is not worthy of the speaker’s time.

Vijayan is aiming for a historic third consecutive Assembly victory, while the Congress-led UDF is leveraging anti-incumbency sentiment. Voting for 140 Kerala Assembly seats is scheduled for April 9, with results to be announced on May 4.