The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday clarified why no clearance was given to Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's proposed visit to the
United States. In a weekly presser, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the visit of Chief Ministers is assessed by the external affairs ministry in order to accord political clearance. In this case, the proposed program was not appropriate to the office held, and the purpose of the visit, therefore, the clearance was denied. "Let me say that the visit of chief ministers, as indeed of other dignitaries, are assessed by the Ministry of External Affairs in order to accord political clearance. The program 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 United States, and therefore the clearance was denied..." said MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. In another statement, Jaiswal said, "Incidentally, let me also tell you that clearance was given for his visit to the United Kingdom." Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy cancelled the US leg of his two-nation visit after the Union government denied him political clearance. His office said Reddy, who is currently in the UK, will cut short his visit and return to Hyderabad from London on Sunday. Reddy, who is in London currently, has planned to visit the US after concluding his trip to the UK. As the permission to travel to the US has been denied, Reddy is returning to Hyderabad on August 30, according to his office. With inputs from PTI
