New Delhi: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was denied political clearance for his planned trip to the US because it failed to conform with laid down norms, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday.
Reddy's office had earlier said the Union government denied permission to him to visit the US.
Though shocked by the ‘political denial’ of a visit to further the state government's 'TelanganaRising' vision and education, and contribute to 'Viksit Bharat', CM Reddy decided to comply with the Union government’s decision and return to India from London, taking a flight back to Hyderabad and instead of proceeding to Boston, USA, it said.
"The only purpose of the visit was to, as part of the New Education Policy of the Centre, bring the world’s best institutions to India, to Telangana, to Hyderabad. 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 said.
The chief minister said he always believed that "we should all think beyond politics and elections when it comes to nation building and the future of the youth".
Reddy has instructed the officials to go ahead with the USA trip and conclude all the MoUs and partnership agreements.
Responding to the statements, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
"The visits of chief ministers as well as of other dignitaries are assessed by the Ministry of External Affairs in order to accord political clearance".
"The programme proposed in such cases should be appropriate to the office held and the purpose of the visit. In this particular case that was not so in respect of the United States and therefore the clearance was denied," he said at his bi-weekly media briefing.
Reddy, who is in London currently, has planned to visit the US after concluding his trip to the UK. As the permission to travel to the US has been denied, Reddy is returning to Hyderabad on August 30, according to his office.
