Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s proposed meetings with US Vice President JD Vance and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani were among the engagements planned for his US visit, but the programme was not routed through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), sources have told NDTV.
On Friday, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the ministry had approved Revanth Reddy’s UK visit but rejected the proposed US travel. The issue came into focus after the Telangana government alleged that the Centre had denied clearance to the Chief Minister’s US visit. The Union government, however, maintained that such programmes need to be assessed and cleared through the established MEA process.
Because the purpose and programme of the trip did not conform with established norms, the external affairs ministry said on Friday, earlier reporting noted: Revanth Reddy’s US trip hits a wall, MEA denies clearance Telangana chief minister and Congress leader A Revanth Reddy was denied political clearance for a planned visit to the US. Earlier reporting noted: Reddy left for a 10-day visit to the UK and the US this week. He is now expected to return home on August 23 after completing the UK leg of the tour, for which political clearance was granted.
Sources in the Union government said the proposed programme for the US visit included meetings with Vance and Mamdani. However, these engagements had not been discussed with the MEA or routed through the ministry as part of the political clearance process, sources said. “The visits of Chief Ministers, as indeed of other dignitaries, are assessed by the Ministry of External Affairs in order to accord political clearance,” Jaiswal said. The Chief Minister’s office had been working on a series of meetings in the US, including engagements with senior political figures, according to sources in the Telangana government. Government sources said the issue was not about the Chief Minister travelling to the US itself, but about whether the proposed programme was appropriate for the office of a state Chief Minister and had been properly processed through the MEA. The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in Hyderabad said he was denied permission to go to the US because of a “political angle”. Earlier reporting noted: When external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was asked about the matter at a regular media briefing in Delhi, he replied: “The visit of chief ministers, as indeed of other dignitaries, is assessed by the ministry of external affairs in order to accord political clearance.”
