Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday thanked Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for extending strong support over the Centre’s decision to deny political clearance for his proposed visit to the United States.
Revanth Reddy, who was in London and was scheduled to return to Hyderabad on Sunday night, expressed his gratitude to Kharge and Congress leaders through a post on social media platform X.
The Chief Minister said he was thankful to his party, its leaders and people across the country for supporting him on the issue, which he described as being in the national interest.
Revanth Reddy said he had completed all his scheduled meetings and programmes in London and would return to Hyderabad instead of travelling to Boston as originally planned.
He said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had denied permission for his US tour, alleging that the decision was taken for political reasons. The Chief Minister added that he would speak about the entire issue after returning to Hyderabad.
The Chief Minister’s Office had announced on August 21 that Revanth Reddy had cancelled his proposed US visit after the MEA denied political clearance. He had left for London on August 20 for a 10-day UK and US tour and was scheduled to travel to the US on August 23.
According to the CMO, the Telangana government had sought the Centre’s permission for both the UK and US visits in accordance with policy and protocol. However, permission was granted only for the UK leg of the tour.
The MEA, meanwhile, said the decision was based on the nature of the programmes proposed in the US.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Sunday that visits by Chief Ministers and other dignitaries are assessed by the Ministry before political clearance is granted. He said the programmes proposed during such visits should be appropriate to the office held by the dignitary and the stated purpose of the visit.
The development has triggered a political debate between the Telangana government and the Centre, with the reasons for the denial of permission becoming a key point of discussion.
