New Delhi, 21 August (H.S.): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has denied political clearance for Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s proposed visit to the United States, stating that the itinerary and objectives of the proposed trip were not in line with the requirements associated with his office and the purpose of the visit.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing on Friday that the proposed foreign visits of chief ministers are assessed for political clearance in the same manner as those of other dignitaries. He said the proposed programme must be commensurate with the office held by the dignitary and the purpose of the visit. In this particular case, the proposed US programme did not meet those requirements and, therefore, clearance was not granted.

However, Reddy’s proposed visit to the United Kingdom has received clearance.

As per the original schedule, Reddy has been visiting the UK since August 20 as part of a “Telangana Rising” delegation. He was scheduled to travel from the UK to the US on August 23, but will now return directly to Hyderabad from London.

During his proposed US visit, Reddy was scheduled to pursue agreements on global academic partnerships with institutions including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other universities.

Under the prevailing rules, chief ministers are required to obtain clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs for official foreign visits. The Telangana government had written to the Centre well in advance seeking approval for Reddy’s proposed UK and US visits. However, the MEA granted clearance only for the UK leg of the tour.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar