Because the purpose and programme of the trip did not conform with established norms, the external affairs ministry said on Friday, telangana chief minister and Congress leader A Revanth Reddy was denied political clearance for a planned visit to the US.
In the past, the BJP -led central government has denied clearance for foreign visits by chief ministers from non-NDA parties such as Trinamool Congress ’s (TMC) Mamata Banerjee and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal . He instructed state government officials to continue the US trip to sign agreements with leading educational institutions such as Harvard and MIT .
Reddy alleged during his tour of the UK that there was a “conspiracy” by the Centre and noted that issues such as youth development should be above politics. He pointed out that the only purpose of his visit was to bring the world’s best institutions to Telangana as part of the country’s New Education Policy and said: “They would have been an answer to our youth’s aspirations to get education, skills and training from the best Ivy Leagues and top global institutions. Reddy was accompanied by the “TelanganaRising” delegation for his visit, and he planned to travel to Boston and New York . The government’s TelanganaRising initiative, he said, would continue to focus on building the state’s economic and human-resource capabilities irrespective of political hurdles. Earlier reporting noted: “The official TelanganaRising delegation led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has been forced to cancel their visit to the United States of America (USA) after the Ministry of External Affairs has denied permission, saying …clearence from political angle is denied,” a CMO release said.
Earlier reporting noted: MEA on no permit for Telangana CM Revanth Reddy’s US trip: Event wasn’t appropriate to CM’s office The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy’s proposed visit to the US was denied political clearance as the programme was not considered appropriate for the purpose of his visit. Earlier reporting noted: Revanth was denied permission by the Centre to visit the USA, the CMO had said earlier on Friday.
Reddy left for a 10-day visit to the UK and the US this week. He is now expected to return home on August 23 after completing the UK leg of the tour, for which political clearance was granted. In this particular case, that was not so in respect of the US, and therefore, the clearance was denied, not given.”
When external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was asked about the matter at a regular media briefing in Delhi, he replied: “The visit of chief ministers, as indeed of other dignitaries, is assessed by the ministry of external affairs in order to accord political clearance. He added: “The programme proposed in such cases should be appropriate to the office held and the purpose of the visit.
The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in Hyderabad said he was denied permission to go to the US because of a “political angle”.
