Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday returned to Hyderabad from the UK and hit out at the central govt for denying him permission to travel to the United States as part of an investment delegation. He alleged that the decision was politically motivated, discrimination against the state, against the federal spirit of the country and a conspiracy to block Telangana’s development. He added that the denial was an “insult to four crore people of Telangana”.“The Union government wanted to signal that investing in Telangana would be punished and that it did not want any non-BJP state to grow beyond a point. They want only Gujarat and other BJP-run states to develop. This is discrimination against a Congress-run state,” he alleged.Revanth had left on Aug 20 for a 10-day visit to the UK and the US with a delegation of ministers and bureaucrats to sign MoUs with educational and sports institutions and seek investments. He also sought to invite investors to the Telangana Global Summit to be held on Dec 7, 8 and 9 . While the UK leg of the trip was cleared by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the US leg was denied on political grounds.Talking to reporters with some of his cabinet colleagues on Monday, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should disclose the political reasons for not permitting the state delegation led by the CM to embark on the scheduled US visit.He accused Modi of acting as the ambassador of Gujarat and not as the Prime Minister of India. “Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel was permitted to travel to the US and Canada and hold roadshows and invite investors under the Vibrant Gujarat banner,” he said. “But Modi did not want investments to come to Telangana. They don’t want any other state to develop beyond a point. It is a case of Gujarat domination over other states. It is a conspiracy and a politically motivated denial because I am from Telangana and from the Congress party.”The CM termed it a blow to the self-respect of Telangana. “There may be ideological differences between political parties, but cordial relations must exist between the Centre and state govts. However the Centre’s attitude appears to be undermining the cordial relations,” he alleged.Revanth said his 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. He noted that the central govt was a union of states. “Our concern is that the Centre’s stance could result in Telangana missing out on potential investments. We will certainly exert pressure on the Centre for the development of Telangana,” he said.He also said that his cabinet colleagues, MPs, MLCs, MLAs and other leaders were unanimously condemning the Centre’s denial of permission and that the issue would be raised in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha by AICC leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.“We are not going to tolerate this insult. It was an official tour of the chief minister. The state government had submitted complete details of the proposed tour to MEA,” he demanded.The purpose, dates and full schedule of his visit had been shared in advance with MEA. On whether he was scheduled to meet US vice-president J D Vance and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Revanth said the Indian embassy will know and follows every programme, and would know if such an appointment was fixed. “Mamdani is not an anti-social element. He is an elected mayor of New York city,” Revanth said and added that talk of the proposed meetings was “media speculation”.Revanth took strong exception to BJP comments on his proposed USA tour. BJP leaders levelled personal political allegations against him by losing their sense of logic and made false statements. “I do want to raise political issues concerning the BJP’s stance since it was a matter involving the two govts,” he said.
