Priyank Kharge accuses External Affairs Ministry of bias in US visit clearance

Karnataka’s Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge raised strong objections after reportedly being denied clearance by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to travel to the United States for an official investment outreach.

Speaking out on the issue, Kharge questioned the MEA’s rationale for blocking his participation. “The delegation with my name doesn’t get clearance from MEA, the same delegation without my name gets clearance. Why this disparity?” he asked.

The Congress leader was slated to lead a delegation from the state to attend the prestigious BIO 2025 conference in Boston and the Design and Automation Conference in San Francisco.

Kharge clarified that this was not a last-minute visit. “It was a pre-planned official visit on behalf of the state government, supported by the Centre. We sent the request with a minute-to-minute programme on May 15,” he said. The proposal included the minister and accompanying officers.

However, on June 4, MEA responded with a denial, without any stated reason. Subsequently, Kharge removed his name from the list and resubmitted the request with only officers. The revised delegation received approval on June 11. “The request was exactly the same, just without my name,” he pointed out.

Further, he said that when he proposed Sharath Bachegowda, Chairman of KIONICS, as a replacement on June 12, clearance was granted by June 14. “So you see the pattern here,” Kharge added.

The minister plans to formally write to the MEA seeking an explanation. “The Chief Minister will also write to the Prime Minister. This government has already outsourced our foreign policy, now they are outsourcing our investment policy,” he remarked.