Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has been denied permission by the Centre to visit the USA, the CMO said Friday.
Reddy, who is currently in London, plans to visit the US and return to Hyderabad August 30.
“The official TelanganaRising delegation led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has been forced to cancel their visit to the United States of America (USA) after the Ministry of External Affairs has denied permission, saying clearance from the political angle is denied,” a CMO release said.
Reddy will return from London to Hyderabad August 23 instead of leaving for Boston in the US, it said.
The state government has sought the Centre’s permission for the trip to the UK and USA, as per policy and protocol, but only the UK trip was approved, it said.
The Centre informed the state government of its refusal of permission after the official delegation reached the UK, the CMO said.
Though shocked by the “political denial” of a visit to further the state government’s ‘TelanganaRising’ vision and education, and contribute to ‘Viksit Bharat’, CM Reddy decided to comply with the Central decision and return to India from London, taking a flight back to Hyderabad and instead of proceeding to Boston, USA, it said.
“The only purpose of the visit was to, as part of the New Education Policy of the Centre, bring the world’s best institutions to India, to Telangana, to Hyderabad. They 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 said.
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The CM said he always believed that “we should all think beyond politics and elections when it comes to nation building and the future of the youth”.
Reddy has instructed the officials to go ahead with the USA trip and conclude all the MoUs and partnership agreements.
The CM will continue, as per the scheduled programme in the UK, his visits to and interactions with Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics, the London Business School, University of London, among others, the release said.
Expressing his resolve to make Hyderabad a global knowledge hub, Reddy said the establishment of Osmania University, Hyderabad Central University and other universities made Hyderabad a hub for the best human resources.
A single school, Hyderabad Public School (HPS), has shown that the state and the country can lead the world, producing some of the greatest tech leaders, he said.
CEOs of top companies, including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and World Bank President Ajay Banga are alumnus of the HPS.
Observing that the establishment of IIT, ISB, IIIT, NALSAR University of Law helped Hyderabad attract top corporations and their Global Capability Centres (GCCs), Reddy said the state government would make the city home to the world’s greatest education and skills institutions to power our 21st century journey.
The CM said his resolve and endeavour is to make Hyderabad one of the top global cities, “where any common Indian can get an education and certificates from Harvard and Oxford, or an MIT and LBS or LSE”.
While most leaders want to send their children abroad, he wants to bring the world’s best to India, Reddy added.
The chief minister would also be meeting with top sports institutions and skilling leadership in the United Kingdom, and try to formalise partnerships with Telangana, the release said.
CM Reddy departed for London from New Delhi August 20 for a 10-day tour of the UK and US.
Congress MP Mallu Ravi and the state government’s advisor on protocol affairs Harkara Venugopal saw him off at the New Delhi airport in the early hours of August 20.
Reddy was in Delhi to attend the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting August 19.
The CMO had said Reddy, during the UK leg, would visit Blavatnik School of Governance, Oxford University August 21 and attend an EPL Football presentation at Emirates Stadium.
On August 22, he will interact with a Cambridge team and is scheduled to visit the Senate House, University of London Campus and the London Business School, it said.
On August 24, Reddy had planned to tour the campuses of Harvard University and MIT in the US, followed by a visit to the North-Eastern campus and meeting with a team of Virginia Tech University in Boston on August 25.
His itinerary also included a ‘Meet and Greet’ event of Indian Overseas Congress (USA) in New York August 26 before returning to Hyderabad August 30.