New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs denied Telangana chief minister A. Revanth Reddy political clearance to visit the United States after official sources said his proposed programme included meetings with US Vice President J.D. Vance and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani that were not considered appropriate for his office.The Telangana government, however, denied that either meeting was scheduled, saying any such engagements would have been routed through the MEA.A day earlier, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, without referring to the proposed meetings, had confirmed that the ministry had approved Reddy’s visit to the United Kingdom but denied clearance for the US leg of his tour.“The visits of chief ministers, as indeed other dignitaries, are assessed by the Ministry of External Affairs in order to accord political clearance. 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 and therefore, the clearance was not given,” Jaiswal said at the bi-weekly media briefing on Friday.According to official sources, the proposed US programme included meetings with Vance and Mamdani. The Centre considered these engagements inappropriate in the context of the office held by Reddy and the stated purpose of his visit, the sources said.Telangana government sources disputed this, saying no such meetings were part of the chief minister’s proposed programme. They said Reddy’s US visit was focused on attracting leading global universities and educational and skills institutions to Telangana, and that any proposed meeting with senior US officials would have gone through the MEA as part of the political clearance process.Reddy, who is currently in London as part of the first leg of his foreign tour, was scheduled to travel to Boston and New York from August 23 to lead a state delegation seeking partnerships with US universities.His office said on Thursday that the US leg of his “Telangana Rising” tour had been cancelled after the MEA denied political clearance, and that Reddy would return to Hyderabad from London on August 23 instead of travelling to Boston and New York.The Telangana government had sought permission from the Union government for Reddy’s visits to both the UK and US as per “policy and protocol”, but only the UK trip was approved. The state government was informed of the rejection of the US visit after the delegation had reached London.The Telangana government had said Reddy’s primary objective was to attract leading global universities and skills institutions to the state.Reddy had instructed state government officials to proceed with the US tour and sign memoranda of understanding with educational institutions including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University and Virginia Tech.In a statement issued through his office, Reddy said the purpose of the visit was to attract the “world’s best educational institutions” to India and Telangana as part of the New Education Policy.“The only purpose of the visit was to attract world’s best educational institutions to India, and in particular Telangana, as part of the New Education Policy of the Centre,” he said. “It 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.”Reddy also said that “we should all think beyond politics and elections when it comes to nation building and the future of the youth”.He will continue with his scheduled programme in the UK, including visits and interactions at Oxford, Cambridge, the London School of Economics, London Business School and University of London campuses. He is also expected to meet representatives of top sports institutions and skilling organisations and seek to formalise partnerships with Telangana.Reddy embarked on the official “Telangana Rising” campaign with a two-country tour of the UK and US after attending the Congress Working Committee meeting in New Delhi on August 19.