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Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday, August 24, hit out at the Centre for denying him permission to travel to the United States to lead an investment delegation, alleging that the decision was politically motivated and amounted to an “insult to Telangana.”

Reddy, who returned to Hyderabad after a three-day visit to the UK, said in his first comments after the controversy erupted that he had planned to travel to the US with a delegation to attract investments in education and sports, including memorandums of understanding (MoU) with Harvard University and other American universities, and to bring in educational specialists from around the world for Telangana.

“I want to ask PM Narendra Modi and the Government of India why they denied me permission to travel to the US?” Reddy said, contrasting his case with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who he said had been permitted to travel abroad under the Vibrant Gujarat banner.

He alleged the trip had been blocked because he belonged to the Congress and represented Telangana, and said the Centre favoured Gujarat over his state. 

Blow to self-respect of Telangana: Revanth Reddy

Calling it a blow to “the self-respect of Telangana,” he said the denial affected the state’s 4 crore people and reflected what he described as Gujarat’s dominance in the Centre’s priorities, pointing to the Gujarat Chief Minister’s travel to Canada and the US.

He said the visit would have benefited “the downtrodden sections, including Dalits, Adivasis and Bahujan students,” who stood to gain from tie-ups with educational and sports institutions abroad.

Centre wants only BJP states to grow: CM

Turning his fire on the Union government, Reddy alleged it wanted to signal that investment in Telangana would be “punished,” and that it did not want any non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state to grow beyond a point. 

“They only want Gujarat to develop, other BJP-run states to develop. This is discrimination,” he said, adding that the Congress would raise the issue in Parliament.

Reddy said the purpose, dates and full schedule of his visit had been shared in advance with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and questioned why clearance was given for the UK leg of his trip but not the US one.

On whether he was scheduled to meet New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Reddy said no such appointment had been fixed, but pushed back at any suggestion that meeting him would have been objectionable. “Mamdani is not an antisocial element. He is an elected mayor,” he said.

He also drew a comparison with Modi’s 2015 visit to Pakistan, asking, “Whom did he take permission from?”