Centre Denies Permission for US Visit, Revanth to Return to Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The Centre on Friday denied Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy permission to travel to the United States, where he was scheduled to oversee the signing of memoranda of understanding with higher education institutes. The Union ministry of external affairs said “clearance from political angle is denied”.

Following this, Revanth Reddy in a statement said he was shocked by the decision as the visit was meant to bring top global educational institutions to Hyderabad, but instructed officials who were part of the delegation to proceed with the US tour programme and to sign MoUs with educational institutions like Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), North-Eastern University and Virginia Tech.

Revanth Reddy will return to Hyderabad from London on August 23, after completing scheduled meetings in the UK. In the meantime, he will meet top Oxbridge (Oxford, Cambridge) and other top British Schools academics in London and sports institutions over the next two days.

The state government had sought the Centre’s permission for the trip to the UK and USA, as per policy and protocol, but only the UK let of the tour was approved. “The only purpose of the visit was to bring the world’s best institutions to India, to Telangana, to Hyderabad, as part of the New Education Policy of the Centre. 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,” the Chief Minister said in response to the developments.

“I have always believed we should all think beyond politics and elections when it comes to nation building and the future of the youth,” Revanth Reddy said, adding that he was shocked by the “political denial” for a visit to further Telangana Rising, and contribute to the Viksit Bharat vision.

In his statement, Revanth Reddy said: “We will make Hyderabad a global knowledge hub. The creation of universities from Osmania to HCU to JNTU et al made Hyderabad a hub for the best human resources. A single school, Hyderabad Public School, has shown how we can lead the world, producing some of the greatest tech leaders. The start of IIT, ISB, IIIT, and Nalsar helped Hyderabad attract top corporations and their GCCs. Now, we will make Hyderabad the home for the world’s greatest education and skills institutions to power our 21st century journey,” he said.

Revanth Reddy will continue his scheduled programme of visits to Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics, the London Business School, University of London, among others, and interaction with their leadership. He will also be meeting with top sports institutions and skilling leadership in the United Kingdom, and try to formalise partnerships with Telangana.

“My resolve and endeavour to make Hyderabad one of the top global cities, where any common Indian can get education and a certificate from Harvard and Oxford, or an MIT and LBS or LSE, is because while most leaders have wanted to send their children abroad, I want to bring the world’s best to India,” he added.

The Congress strongly condemned the BJP leaders for politicising the Chief Minister’s official international educational and investment tour. Government Whip Aadi Srinivas accused Telangana BJP leaders of being unable to tolerate or digest the rapid growth of the state. He reminded the BJP that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made over 103 foreign trips to 82 nations since 2014 and questioned why a Chief Minister’s visit to global institutions is viewed differently.

Vemulawada MLA Srinivas strongly criticised Nizamabad BJP MP Dharmapuri Arvind for claiming the Chief Minister was meeting ‘anti-India forces’, calling his statements absurd. He warned that the Congress government would deal strictly with anyone attempting to destabilise or unjustly attack the state leadership.

During a media briefing in New Delhi on Friday, external affairs ministry’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that political clearance for Revanth Reddy’s proposed visit to the United States was denied because the submitted itinerary was deemed inappropriate for his office and the purpose of the visit.

Jaiswal explained that all international visits by Chief Ministers and high-profile dignitaries were thoroughly evaluated by the ministry before political clearances were granted. The MEA spokesperson said that the proposed schedule and agenda submitted for the United States leg of the trip did not conform to the ‘protocol requirements’ of a Chief Minister's office.

Jaiswal clarified that while the US leg was blocked, the Central government had fully approved and granted political clearance for Revanth Reddy's travel to the United Kingdom. “The visit of Chief Ministers, as indeed other dignitaries, is assessed by the ministry of external affairs to accord political clearance,” spokesperson Jaiswal said.

“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 US,” he said at his bi-weekly media briefing while responding to a question on the issue. “Therefore, clearance has not been given. Incidentally, his visit to the UK has been cleared,” he added.

There have been instances of the MEA declining political clearances to Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee to travel abroad when they were holding the Chief Minister's post in Delhi and West Bengal respectively.