Congress leader Priyank Kharge on Saturday informed that he has got the Centre's approval to go to the United States, two days after he had written to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asking him to clarify why the clearance for his official visit was not granted.
Kharge, the Karnataka Minister, was to travel to the US between June 14 and June 27 to head delegations to the Boston Bio 2025 and Design Automation Conference this year in San Francisco. Kharge, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's son, was in France when he was denied clearance.
In a tweet on X, he stated that the Ministry of External Affairs has made a "U-turn" and withdrawn its previous decision and issued him a clearance for his visit.
Kharge mentioned that he had applied for permission on May 15 and stated that he had obtained the "No Objection clearance" on June 19, just a day after he spoke at a press conference, raising questions over the grounds of the refusal and alleging potential "political interference".
He had also penned a two-page letter to Jaishankar on Thursday and stated that his visit was intended to "strengthen collaborations, attract investments and create opportunities for employment" in Karnataka.
"Denying a Cabinet Minister and the keeper of one of the largest tech clusters in the world, the right to perform such official duties without reason, is very serious. It is not just against the interest of the state but also against the spirit of cooperative federalism," he said in the letter, which he posted on his official X account on Friday.
"The trip was scheduled amidst two major global forums, the BIO International Convention in Boston and Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco, and a number of official meetings with leading companies, universities and institutions wherein I was to be the representative of the Government of Karnataka to seek collaborations, bring investments and generate employment for the State," said Kharge.
He stated the lack of representation at the minister-level level during a government visit of "such importance is a missed chance to further raise the level of engagement, enhance trust among partners across the world and show the seriousness with which we pursue these sectors".
Also read: Priyank Kharge slams Centre over US trip denial
"Besides, participation in such visits are consistent with our National priorities and would have benefited directly the larger vision of Viksit Bharat presented by the Prime Minister," he said.
He said that he did not get a formal communication from the Ministry for the denial, and that it becomes "difficult to assess and plan future engagements of this nature".
"It also creates issues of consistency of the process, particularly when the visits are official, sector-critical and in the National Interest," the Congress MLA from Chittapur said, and asked the Ministry to give a formal reason for the denial.
He also asked the Ministry to reflect on taking a "more transparent and consultative approach" in managing such official interactions in the future.
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