Fresh details have emerged on why Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was denied political clearance for his proposed visit to the United States.
According to sources quoted by NDTV, Revanth Reddy’s US itinerary included proposed meetings with US Vice President JD Vance and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
However, these meetings were reportedly not discussed with or routed through the Ministry of External Affairs as part of the political clearance process.
This is believed to have been one of the key reasons behind the Centre denying permission for the US leg of his tour.
The Telangana Chief Minister’s Office had sought political clearance for Revanth Reddy’s visits to both the UK and the US. While the Centre approved the UK visit, it denied permission for the US trip.
Government sources maintained that the decision was taken on technical and procedural grounds and was not linked to any political dispute with the Telangana government.
The MEA examines foreign visits by Chief Ministers and other dignitaries before granting political clearance. The proposed programme is assessed to see whether it is appropriate to the office held by the dignitary and matches the stated purpose of the visit.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had earlier said that the proposed US programme did not meet those requirements.
“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 with respect to the United States,” he said.
The Telangana government, however, had earlier alleged that the US visit was denied on political grounds.
Sources said the proposed meetings with Vance and Mamdani had been communicated to the respective US offices independently by the Telangana Chief Minister’s Office and were not processed through the MEA.
That reportedly became an issue because a meeting with the US Vice President would be a high-level political engagement requiring coordination with the Centre.
The proposed meeting with Mamdani was also seen as politically significant because of his growing profile in US politics.
Revanth Reddy’s planned US itinerary also reportedly included visits to Harvard University, MIT, Northeastern University and meetings with a Virginia Tech team in Boston.
He was also expected to attend a “Meet and Greet” programme organised by the Indian Overseas Congress in New York.
The proposed US visit was considered important for Telangana because of the large Telugu diaspora in America. The Telugu community is one of the biggest and fastest-growing Indian-origin groups in the US.
For now, the Centre’s position is clear: the objection was not to Revanth Reddy travelling to the US itself, but to parts of the proposed programme and the way they were processed.
The issue has now turned into another political talking point between the Congress government in Telangana and the Centre.
Lingamaneni Sanjush, who is accused in the fatal road accident that claimed the life of 26-year-old Bharathi Mukhi near Durgam Cheruvu on August 16, allegedly…
If sources in the Telangana Congress are to be believed, Forests and Endowments Minister Konda Surekha is likely to be dropped from Chief Minister A.…
The decision of Jana Sena Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan to stay away from the just-concluded Assembly session has become…
