Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister A. Revanth Reddy received a rude shock as the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) denied him permission to travel to the United States from August 23 to lead a delegation from the state to explore tie ups with US universities.Reddy, who is now in London as part of the first leg of his foreign tour, in a press communique sent through his office informed that his US tour starting from Boston, New York, on August 23 was cancelled after the MEA denied him permission saying “..clearance from political angle is denied”. “The chief minister will return from London to Hyderabad on August 23 instead of leaving for Boston, NY,” a statement from the Telangana Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.Reddy has instructed state government officials to proceed with the US tour and sign memoranda of understanding with educational institutions like Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, North-Eastern University and Virginia Tech. The statement added that Reddy will continue, as per the scheduled programme, his visits and interactions at Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics (LSE), London Business School (LBS) and University of London campuses, among others.He will also meet representatives of top sports institutions and skilling leadership in the UK and try to formalise partnerships with Telangana.“Telangana Rising is unstoppable. Future of youth, development of state, country should be above politics,” it mentioned. Reddy embarked on the official “Telangana Rising” campaign with a two nation tour of UK and US after attending the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in New Delhi on August 19 (Wednesday). Telangana Rising is a state government platform dedicated to showcasing the state’s rapid progress in various sectors with the aim to become a three trillion economy by 2047. A global summit of the corporates was also held in this background here last year. The state government had sought permission from the Union government for the trip to the UK and US as per “policy and protocol” but only the UK trip was approved. The Union government informed the state government about its refusal to grant permission to travel to US after the delegation reached London, the statement said. Responding to the Union government’s decision, the CMO wrote quoting Reddy, “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. 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”. It added: “I have always believed we should all think beyond politics and elections when it comes to nation building and the future of the youth.”Reddy will now return to Hyderabad from London. He is also scheduled to attend the wedding of All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi’s daughter in London on Friday (August 21).“We will make Hyderabad a global knowledge hub. The creation of Universities from Osmania to Hyderabad Central University to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University et al made Hyderabad a hub for best human resources. A single school, Hyderabad Public School, has shown how we can lead the world, producing some of the greatest tech leaders,” the statement mentioned.It added, “The starting of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian School of Business (ISB), Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) and NALSAR helped Hyderabad attract top corporations and their global capability centres (GCCs). Now, we will make Hyderabad home for the world’s greatest education and skills institutions to power our 21st century journey.”As per the statement, the chief minister said that his “resolve and endeavour to make Hyderabad one of the top global cities where any common Indian can get education and certificate from Harvard and Oxford, or an MIT and LBS or LSE is because while most leaders have wanted to send their children abroad, I want to bring the world’s best to India.” The denial of political clearance for Reddy’s US visit is the latest in a series of such denials.In 2018, former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP-led) Union government for refusing clearances to state ministers to travel abroad to raise funds after floods. In 2019, the MEA had denied the then Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal permission to visit a climate summit in Denmark. In 2024, the ministry refused to give a go ahead to Punjab chief minister and AAP leader Bhagwant Singh Mann to attend the Paris Olympics. Commenting on the denial of permission to Reddy, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “The visit of chief minsters, as indeed, other dignitaries is assessed by the ministry 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. Therefore, clearance has not been given. Incidentally his visit to the UK has been cleared.”Notably, the Reddy government in Telangana had earlier this year renamed the road adjoining the US Consulate in Hyderabad ‘Donald Trump Avenue’, a move that had garnered significant outrage from Left parties at the time. The road was earlier called US Consulate Road.On June 23, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor and Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka participated in a reception at the consulate where a ceremonial plaque, commemorating the renaming of the road, was unveiled. It took place as part of the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of US independence.This article is updated with MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal’s take on the issue and republished at 4.25 pm on the same day.